EQUAL STATUS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19063, 27 July 1927, Page 10

EQUAL STATUS.

TWO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. NX INSTITUTION RENAMED. AN AMICABLE ADJUSTMENT. [THE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, July 2G. The expected Bills relating to the Agricultural Colleges of the Dominion were introduced in the House to-day by Governor-General's Message. The object of the Bills, as explained by the Minister for Agriculture, is to change the name of the College which-is to be established at Palmerston North from the New Zealand Agricultural College to the Massey Agricultural College, and to affiliate Lincoln College with the Canterbury University College, the effect being that there will be two Agricultural Colleges in the Dominion. The change in the name of the college to be created at Palmerston North is to be effected by the Massey Agricultural College Act, which makes the necessary amendments in this respect to the Act passed last year. Attendance at this college is to be equivalent to attendance at the Victoria College, Wellington, and also of the Auckland University College, for the purpose of fulfilling the requirements of any statute of the University of New Zealand. The Council of the Massey College is to have power to grant diplomas in agricultural science, without reference to the Council of the New Zealand University, or the Councils of Victoria and Auckland Colleges. Moneys raised for educational purposes under the Educational Purposes Loans Act may be made available to the college, and may be used for the purchasing of live stock, implements, or other material required by the college. The Governer-General-in-Council may transfer to the management of the College Council the contrpl of any land acquired, or which may be acquired, for the college, while all live stock, etc., acquired by the Crown for the college will become the property of the college on being handed over. Under the principal Act subsidies were payable by the Crown on any gifts to the college up to an unlimited amount, but it is suggested in the new Bill that the total subsidy payable in respect of any voluntary contribution shall not exceed £25,000. It is provided that the staff of the college may become contributors to the Teachers' Superannuation Fund. A further amendment replaces the Minister for Education by the Minister for Agriculture as the responsible authority ft deciding th" suitability of land or other property presented to the College, and on which subsidies may be payable. The annual report is also to be furnished to this Minister instead of to the Minister for Education. Lincoln. The Canterbury College and Canterbury Agricultural Amendment Bill gives Lincoln College the same status as the Massey College in granting diplomas. The personnel of the Board of Governors of the Agricultural College is increased from seven to ten, the additional members, thei Minister for Agriculture informed the House, being two representatives of Canterbury College and one additional member to be appointed by the Government, making the Crown representation two. The College is to be placed on the same footing as the Massey College with reference, to the payment of subsidies on contributions from the public, that is, £ for £ on contributions for capital endowments, and ten shillings for every £on other gifts. Authority is sought to make a grant not exceeding £IO,OOO out of the education loans account to be applied in accordance with the approval of the Minister for Agriculture towards the erection, structural alteration, improvement, and equipment of buildings required for the purposes of the college. Provision is also made in the Bill for an annual payment out of the Consolidated Fund of £3700, which is to be applied for such purposes of research as the Minister for Agriculture may approve after consulation. with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. This grant is, to include the grant of £I2OO now made annually to the college by the Government. The council of the college is also to make an annual report to the Minister for Agriculture on the same lines as that of the council of the Massey College. "Sop to the South Island." The introduction of the Bills in the House of Representatives led to a lengthy discussion this afternoon. After the Hon. Mr Hawken had briefly explained the provisions of the Bills, Mr Glenn (Rangitikei) became critical, and said the action of the Government was' a sop to the South Island. He added that the manoeuvres of the South Island members were excellent as far as they went. The Government had backed down from the former position they had taken up that there should be but one agricultural college. Why, he asked, was the Government not strong enough to meet the situation with only one college? Ministers, and the Prime Minister, were very uncomfortable about the situation, and now there were to be

! two sorts of half-hearted colleges. He was sorry the South Island had got the Government into the position they were now in. , , Several of the Canterbury members took up the opposite attitude. Mr D. Jones said the right thing had been done both in the interests of efficiency and economy, and it was now generally recognised that what some members advocated last session was the best thine that could be done, lhe two islands being different in regard to arable and pastoral farming, the compromise would put agricultural education on a far sounder footing than would have been done by last year's Bill The North Island college could not have carried out the work that was necessary in connexion with arable farming. Now there was going to be a very large saving t<> the Government, and a very great efficiency in agricultural education. . Mr Lysnar said there had been agitation in the South Island, and the Government had succumbed to it. A Promise Fulfilled. The Prime Minister said the position had been misunderstood. Last \ear a definite promise had been made to the House that before the Palmerston North land was purchased the House would again be given an opportunity of expressing its views. Since then there had been no end of negotiations to see if the difficulties in the way could be got over. In the meantime there had been negotiations between the Canterbury College and himself, the Minister for Agriculture, and later the Departmental officers. 'They had looked at it from a very broad point of view. He regretted to some extent that the namej JVew Zealand Agricultural College, should be changed, but the members from the South Island objected very definitely to anything overshadowing their institution, which had been in existence for so many years. The question of the grant of £IO,OOO had been under discussion for several years, and it had always been understood that when the old buildings had to be renewed the Government would assist the Lincoln College Board. It was now settled definitely that they would get that amount. A unanimous resolution had been reached by arrangement. This would be economical, and would not interfere with the work that the North Island college would have to carry out. The College Site. Having made the promise to Parliament that there would be another opportunity of discussing the question again, the Government then had to do all it possibly could to complete the purchase of the McHardy property, over which there was an option till the end of the present month. Unless thog made the purchase by Monday week, the option would fall through, hence the necessitv for producing these Bills. A good deaf, he explained, had already been done in connexion with the establishment of the ground work for the research departments at Palmerston North in connexion with the dairy industry. Mr McHardy, he added, had been wonderfully good to them in connexion with the delay that had occurred in purchasing his property. Mr Glenn: He is getting a great price for it—£6o an acre! Mr Coates: He did not want to extend the option, and he will not extend it again. He does not want to leave a house that he is very much attached to. In regard to the South Island members, Mr Ooates said they had been very reasonable. He believed that there would be no clashing between the two colleges—though he would rather have seen one—and that they would work amicably and to the satisfaction of New Zealand. In the future, no doubt, people would come forward and freely make gifts in the interests of agricultural education. "North v. South." Mr Forbes referred to the difficulty in suiting both islands and he complimented the Government on the change • in their policy. Men in the North Island had spoken to him complaining of such a large expenditure on one college in the North Island, when the matter was first mooted. What they were doing now would go a long way towards agricultural education in New Zealand. The question of North v. South did not operate in the House. When the South put forward a good case, the North Island members did not object to it. Mr Tapley said that what had been done was in the economic interests of the whole country. He agreed with the change of name proposed. He hoped thatthe feeling of North v. South would be dropped. There might otherwise be a movement to divide the north from the south, and to have two Parliaments. Voices: Oh, no! Mr Sullivan (Avon) said that there was no jealousy between the North and the South . Island members. The Hon. Mr Hawken said the money they proposed to give to Lincoln was not too much for the work to be done. , This college had done good work in the past, and he had no doubt it would continue to do good work in the future. Mr Howard (Christchurch South) said j that if the Government had not met | the South Island, there would have been ■ two colleges all the same. He objected to a remark of his fellow Labour mem- \ ber,- Mr Lee, that there had been logTollihg. There had been none. It was.clearly understood last session that the whole matter.would be investigated in the recess. No sane man would suggest that Lincoln College should be wiped out. , The Bills were read a first time.