N.Z. VETERINARY SCHOOL

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27435, 23 August 1954, Page 12

N.Z. VETERINARY SCHOOL

Canterbury’s Claims To Establishment SUPPORT BY MR O’SHEA . fNevn Zealand Press Association) PADMERSTON NORTH, August 22. Canterbury is the best place for the establishment of a school of veterinary science in New Zealand, in the opinion of the Dominion secretary of Federated Farmers (Mr A. P.. O’Shea). He is a member of the sub-committee of the New Zealand University Senate which is investigating the veterinary school project. Mr O’Shea dissented from the majority finding that a school was necessary. He also differed from the New Zealand Veterinary A'ssociation on the possible site of a school if it were established. The association, in’ a report presented to the Senate, which yesterday decided at Massey College to urge the establishment of a school in the Dominion, expressed the view that Palmerston North would be the best site. Mr O’Shea contended that Canterbury should be chosen *on the following grounds: The school would be close to a university college and to Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln. Canterbury is the centre of the poultry industry in New Zealand. A complete range of all breeds of sheep is available in Canterbury. - Irrigation is practised irf the area. Large herds of cows of a wide variety of breeds are farmed in Canterbury. Winter conditions for stock have a small resemblance to those of the North Island, but also “occasional glimpses of those found in the extreme south.’’ No Deckdon on Site However, on Yne recommendation of th<» T’ro-Chancellor of the University (Mr L. J. Wild). the Senate made no decision about a suitable site. In arriving at its decision, the Veterinary Association said, it was influenced by the fact that Palmerston North already had an agricultural college within its environs, as well as research centres in grasslands and in dairying—all of them having close associations with the veterinary sphere, particularly in the aspects which the association hoped would be emphasised in the proposed school’s curriculum. It was suggested that certain portions of the curriculum could, with advantage and economy, be handled by the specialist staff of the Grasslands Research Station and the Dairy Research Institute. “The association, however, is emphatic that whatever location is decided upon, an independent faculty of veterinary science must be established within the university,” said the association’s statement. “In no circumstance would the association be prepared to countenance any scheme for grafting the teaching of veterinary science on to an existing faculty, such as medicine or agriculture.” One of the essential needs in selecting a site was the available reserve of clinical material of all types for teaching purposes, said the association. The principle was recognised as vital in a medical school, but it was even more important for a veterinary school, because animal patients were in hospital to a far less extent, and thus the student must be taken to his clinical material, rather than the latter be brought to him. The association said it had figures available which indicated that Palmerston North had a sufficiently varied and numerous animal population and sufficient diversity of husbandry methods within a workable radius to provide adequate clinical tuition.