Rejection Of Farm Institute Deplored

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29742, 8 February 1962, Page 15

Rejection Of Farm Institute Deplored

(New Zealand Press Association)

DUNEDIN, February 7. The chairman of the South Otago Agricultural Education Committee, Mr A. W. Thomson. has criticised the Government’s rejection of a £lOO.OOO offer for the establishment of a farm institute in South Otago.

“The brief announcement of the Minister of Education, Mr Tennent, that the Government has turned down the offer of a property, livestock and various implements to the value of more than £lOO,OOO for the establishment of a farm institute in South Otago has come as a great disappointment to the local committee,” Mr Thomson said today. “It is incredible to us that any Government would turn down such a handsome offer without giving more substantial excuses than the Minister’s brief statement discloses.” The local committee’s experience, supported everywhere by rural schools, was that agricultural courses could not be adequately taught within the framework of modern post-primary schools, and that the agricultural courses at those schools were not attracting enough of the right type of lad into the farming industry Whereas after the war, Massey and Lincoln Colleges offered an extensive range of diplomas and short-term courses for young farmers, they had to a large extent been “squeezed out” of the colleges as the intake of degree students had increased The colleges had

rightly concentrated their efforts at university level. Mr Thomson said the trustees of the property, in making their generous offer, were aware of the present financial difficulties of the Government, and agreed to allow three years before the institute should be established.

It was most unlikely in the future when the problem must inevitably be faced, that such an offer would be available. The Government of that day would be faced with the problem of finding a suitable property and paying the full market price for it. The committee felt sure that the Government, by its refusal to face the problem constructively, would find 'it had stirred up another “hornets’ nest.”

The farm institute proposal had been wholeheartedly supported by farming organisations throughout the country, he said.

“Is it too much to hope that the Government might yet reconsider its decision, rectify its mistake, and accept the offer while it is still available?’’ Mr Thomson asked.