The Press. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1900. THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13612, 22 December 1909, Page 6

The Press. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1900. THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.

The annual prize-giving and inspection of the farm ot the. Agricultural College at Lincoln is usually a very enjoyable and instructive offhir, and the gathering yesterday fully sustained it* reputation in this respect. As a. rule the- speeches at the luncheon which forms .part of the proceedings arc of the usual laudatory and somewhat conventional type, hut yesterday provided an exception. The Chairman of the Board of Governors, the Hon. E. j C. J. Stevens, delivered a very vigorous reply to some absurd misstatements which have been made in ] the House regarding the institutii-m and the way in which it carries on its work. He did not mince matters. He took off the gloves and handled the detractors of the College in a way which recoiled th? time when he was in the frent rank of fighting politicians. He said plainly that tno "stuff end " nonsense" talked about the institution was not only untrue, but a good deal of it was intentionally untrue. Those who take the trouble to read in "Hansard" the debate which took place on the Canterbury College and Canterbury Agricultural College Amendment Bill will agree that the remarks of Mr Stevens, stinging as they were, were not more severe than the occasion demanded. Mr Stevene, *it wiLl be observed, did not name the member to whose observations he devoted special attention. Wβ find, however, that Mr Roes, M.P., who represents Pahiatua in the House, made some statements in the debate which, whether they were intentionally untrue or not, were absolutely without foundation in fact, and such as no honourable man ought to- have made regarding an important educa- ! tional institution of the colony without having first satisfied himself that they were bcycod dispute. Hβ told the House that Lincoln College j is "crowded with the sons "of wealthy men residing in "the Old Land. It is crowded to a " certain estent with A percentage or " ne'er-do-wolls—persons whose relatives in the Old World find this a '' very cheap and convenient boarding- " hou&e —a place wJier© the aocommoua"tion and interests generally of the "boarder are carefully tended by fhe "guardians." In reply to this monstrous allegation, Mr Stevens read a. return showing that of 48 students in residence at the present time there are only two from England, while there are no fewer than 24 front the North Island of New Zealand, which, Mr Rose implied, -derived no benofit from the College, The Director, Mr Alexander, warmly testified that the two young Englishmen were in every way a credit to the College—one of them was second on the list of prise-takere—and he believed they would be a credit to the Dominion, where they would in all prolaUlity make their home. For our part wo should be glad to see the accommodation, of tho College increased, so that many more young Englishmen of the same stamp might come here to the benefit, oe we believe, both of them«t'lves and of New Zealand. In equally convincing fashion, by the production of facts and figures, Mr Stevens utterly demolished the fiction that the College is a class institution, frequented only by the sons of well-to-do men. In the same effective manner he refuted the charge that the teaching was unpractical. So practical is it that not only do the students do the whole work of the farm themselves, with the exception of extra work at harvesting, and that done by two or three expert instructors, but in their spare time they have constructed a fine swimming bath, which will be a great acquisition to the College. It is doubtful whether even Canterbury people fully understand what a valuable institution Lincoln College, as at present conducted, really is. Th© new Director, Mr Alexander, who has had great experience, said that in none of the agricultural colleges j in the Old World where he had been •were such facilities afforded for agricultural education as at Lincoln College. It was especially noteworthy on account of the large area of land attached to it, and the practical work given to the students. The great drawback to most of the English agricultural collegee is that they have no farms, and the inetructkm is purely theoretical. Mj\ Lowrie, it will be remembered, in makinc his farewell speech last year, saidt

that Lincoln College would compare more than favourably with similar institutions in the Old World. This is very largely due to the fact that, as was mentioned yesterday, it is administered by a Board of Governors compesed of practical men, who have given a largo amount of valuable timer.nd close personal attention with the object of making it efficient end successful. It is a poor return for what they have done, that members of Parliament, who arc either culpably recklc;s or deliberately untruthful, should publicly circulate, charge.? against the institution without a shadow of justification in fact. Perhaps the trenchant manner in which the Chairman dealt yesterday with Mime of the worst among the recent offenders will impress upon them the prudence l of being a little more circumspect in future. In the meantime, those who saw for themselves yesterday the excellent work it is doing and the. fine stamp of students it is turning out, will feel that not only Canterbury, but the Dominion as a whole, is to be conpvitiilatod on the possession of such an admirable institution.