VISIT TO HAWKESBURY COLLEGE.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12502, 25 May 1906, Page 3

VISIT TO HAWKESBURY COLLEGE.

COMPARISONS WITH LINCOLN I ' COLLEGE.

A crescendo boom of cheering from 150 stalwart- young throats, with the stamping of feet, the clapping of hands, tho rattling of knife-handles on the rabies, and the beating of spoone against toacupe,'to s-well the volume of sound! This l*ays the".Sydney Morning Herald" of Fridsiy last) wos hew the students of Hawkesbury Agricultural College at luii-ch<-on greeted Mr Seddon, Premier of ! f-titutian yesterday. Hut it was when. !Mr S. W. Moore. Minister for Agriculture in New Scuth Wale*, called upon the young men to give three cheers for thoir visitor that tlio enthusiasm reached its climax, and assumed -a form that s'artlrd eve-n Mr Sc-ddon liim&i j lf. For. I raping to their feet, they gave their college war-cry, n wries of wild whoops and voluble yells, ending with a prolonged "Yah!" like the defiant shout cf ! tho Maori warrions of old. i Mr Sr-ddon expressed hi<= delight at the i cordial welcome given him that day, I which ho took not so much ,is an honour Ito himself as that they desired to pay ! n tribiit? to the colony and the people Iho had the honour to represent. i (Cheers.) He was delighted to moot young Xow South Wales at work, and !i ing fully equipped for that life which iva> w> eis-ential to the well-being of tho j whole country. Fanning was made c-asy in tho colony he came from, but oven there they found that scientific farming wa.s much more profitable than tho plodding along on the old and obsolete lilies. He wjis delighted to hear of the progre.ss of the college; but what h.'ifl plea.-cd him more than all else was :.> lii-flr froni tho principal fact that in that infititution nil clashes were n> [iivsentffl —irom the 4>:nall, etriiggling ■vettier up to tho squatter and to tlu , uicicliant. of tho towns. It was well that, there should bo this representation, and that all should meet together nnd assist in bringing science to bear on the products of the. soil for the good of humanity. In the Lincoln College in Cmie-rbury, New Zealand, only the ■nrge farming class wa.s represented— in other words, Lincoln College was not tho popular institution such us existed 'icre in New South Wales. (Hear, hear.) Lie suggested that twenty students of ■lawkrsbtiry College should bo sent to Lincoln College, and promised to ask the inthorilir* at Lincoln to send twenty indents to Hawkesbury. Mr Scddon recommended the students to pursue their studies diligently, far as tho world projjit'fised the men who wove ignorant would hold t'he inferior pnsit'ons, and in agriculture, science must play a most impotent iwirt. Mr Mooro had mentioned what some people called hLs "Imp?rialivtic weakness." He was gad- to find*" the young men cf New South Wales realising that they H>!on.gnd to a racs v and nation that had bright and glorioue tradiitions— (cheers) —tha;; .they belonged to tha gre.a.tci-ifc Knip!re the world had ever known; xbat .ho duties of citizenship did not rest ■ilo-ite at home bane in New South \V-aIeR, but that when the time came, f they were required to do so, they wcto determined to uphold tho Empi ro and that glorious flag which con-/iM-red freedom and maintained justice, Hid was tho'bet': and brighteist in the vorld. They all formed an integral >art of that great- Empire, and if the lecossity artse the students in that in■tiUition would do. as their fathers ant! 'irotSiens had done before them. Withuit the great Power behind them, what I'oulri be tils ufitf of producing thwc, '.y( iasfcance? What would tie the ad•antago of all their instruction if tho highways and markets of the world •vero blocked against thoir surplus pro'tictfi? If t-hev vorc liommed in. and eppt hero, deprived of freedom, where ronltl Australia bo? Let them take it rom him that the true Australian, the Ik , who wanted to do his duty and be •. n."bl,_' citizen, and an ornament to he Empire, had hie, duty to perform, la was Hiiro they wnukl do theirs to ho advantage of Australia, and to the ;.jotl of the Empire. ''As I first came- to Australia after I •ft tho Mother Country, my heart is till with yon," Mr Seddcn concluded. 'When you are prosperous, I and the >eopl-a cf our colony rejoice with you ; t' haixl times came, then we sympathisevith you. You are having very geed imes now, and the longer they Inst !i? better the poop!? of New ZeaLiiii.d vMI like it." (Prolonged cheering.) "I wrs well ploas?d with my visit," p!i:d Mr Seddon, when l>y n .'preventative of the "Daily Teirgraph' , 'or Iv'is impiTft-icre of the cc'ilege. "It i more fully -equ'pprd than anything ye have in New Zeala.nd. It is fuiiy quipped in every way, and the result o the State lniti-t !•<?• mcis , !: lieiiefidu". V very 1 rge perc?nta.ge of t'iie youuig iien who are trained in tho college vill go upon the land, and thirir neigh>')iirhood generally w:ll benoiit from lx.ir training:. In New Zealand we •avo "gone in more for specialising. Birt for the young man who wants to '•■? fully trailed and equipped the T.-\wk:fibury College in sujwrior to anything we have."