THE AGRICULTURAL BENT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 205, 24 May 1919, Page 8

THE AGRICULTURAL BENT

V I ENCOURAGEMENT URGED FEILDiNG'S needs and aspirations EDUCATION'S INCREASING : cost ■ A deputation, consisting of Messrs. 11. To?le.v, ; A.'E. Pearco (chairman of ilie Kiwitea County Council), and A. 11. Atkinson (Fending Technical School Committeo), waited on tho Minister (if Education (Hon; .1. A. Ilanaii) yesterday 1 to urge further Government assistance towards the building of it hostel in connection with the iiew Technical School about to be erected in Feilding. In introducing the deputation tho Hon. D. H. Guthrie stated that they had already ten acres of land, which they were prepared to give the Department, and were about to add to that another ten acres, and in return they were looking (o .the Government to supply tho necessary money for j the buildings. The, Government had al- | ready recognised the needs of the Feildi; irig district by granting a vote of. J'sooo. ! The district.' however, Was peculiarly .',situated. • It consisted;of -a'very; large area-.which extended right back to tho mountains, an area that was very closely settled, and whose only outlet practically was Feilding, and tho people were desirous that tho young ; people should have facilities provided for. them to take the agricultural course at the Technical School. In order to do this a hostel ■was needed, and if such a place were [ not provided the school would not be of j the'value to the district that it should be." The district, as ho had said, was a large one, and-tho students from a distance attending the classes must have somewhere to stay, so they asked that the grant should bo increased to cover .the cost ot a- hosttT ( Mr. Guthrie pointed out how.tho people of the district ' were willing to help themselves, and the I local bodies were prepared to assist. One i locil body which, had beeti approached I had promised .£3OO, and all the others ( were prepared to do the same, if a hostel | were provided, so th.tt their children I could take advantage of the agricultural | course there. 'Knowing the Minister's [ mind, lie was sure he would bo sympathetic.

■ Mr. . IT. Tolley said at present they had a Technical- School at tho corner of a busy thoroughfare, in such a position that they had no playground at all, just a backyard about ten times the size of an ordinary room, which, the Minister would t\gree, was fatal to .the-interests of any school. 'They had provided ten acres of good land, and in the interests of the boys of the district, it was intended to make tlio school enlirelv vocational, including a full agricultural course., AVitli the ten acres they had and the other ten to be added they would .be able to provide a one-man farm. For tlio benefit, of town, students a general course would bo as weil', and also a op/rse for girls. Feilding . served five counties, the town was almost their only outlook, so they had gone to the various county councils to they would do to help. They had all promised to help. Quo had promised a modest sum, but was prepared to double it if a hostel were provided. He asked the Department to take his assurance that if the hostel were provided it would add considerably to the value of tho school. lie reminded the Minister, that the Town-planning Conference had- been discussing the drift towards the towns, which could only bo checked by 'developing an' agricultural bent and interest. Mr. Pearco (Kiwitea) said that ho represented the country-whose district was eight miles away from Feilding, and ex-tended-right up to Mangaweka,. aud he emphasised the necessity of providing hostel accommodation in connection with the, school. He also said how willing | the local bodies were to support the Mr. 'A. H. Atkinson dwelt 011 the iin- ■ portance v of the district agriculturally. Feilding held tho largest a-nnual sheep and cattle fair on the" Coast, and presented a greater variety of land than any other district in tho Dominion, Within a mile of the school there was (i great variety of different classes of land, and being 'just off a liig main toad--the Kimbolton Road-itho farmers from all round could conveniently inspect the work that was boing done. -Tho httlo experimental patches had aH failed because of want of coutrol of the work Mr. .Guthrie.intervened to say that the district \vas?.> unique' in respect toils position in relation to tho railway line. It was a district "on itsl <S\yii, and itthey could not go to the Veildin" bchpol they, could' not go up or down the line to the next school, as tho district all toy at. the back of Feildmg. where IheYe were no railways. The Minister wished to know how many Btudojits were likely tjo take the agricultural course. Mr. Guthrief said that a hundred students for the agricultural and domestic course was a small estimate; that to begin with. , . ~ Mr. Tolley said that DO per cent, of the boy students favoured tho agricultural Mr. Guthrie attributed that largely to the holding of farm and shearing camps for the lads and the excellent work whieli had been done in the district by Mr. Banner, agricultural instructor, whoso qualifications and enthusiasm were highly appreciated throughout the district. , The Minister said .that a vote had been made by Cabinet for a school to be erected'Oii a site which the public spirit ot the people of the district had provided for the purpose. The projcct had not been lost sight of. There had been some little trouble ahont the title to the land, but that had since been fixed up. I lie point tho deputation had made was of interest throughout New Zealand. . 1 ho Government so far had not favoured giving assistance in the erection if hostels in connection with .technical schools, but tlio Department would bo asked to look Into'the matter when the new proposals respecting technical schools wero under , consideration. He was endeavouring at the present time to ascertain • what amount of money would lie required if Cabinet would sanction the extension of ■financial assistance. Ho wished to tongratulate tho people of the district on the spirit of self-help they had shown. A voto had been granted for tho school, but he.did not think it would to enough to meet the type of building that should bo erected, witn the. high tost of material and labour. The cost in that regard was "simply deadly," and was ravenously eating VP the extra vote that hart been* made on tin; Public Works .Lstimatea for hiih. It was rapidly going because of the high cost of building 111 this country. Onlv tho day before a proposal had been placed before l.im involving the expenditure of half a million of money, and another proposal—to include kindergarten work in pur national system of education—would, his Department had ;-s----eured him, cost about JSftO.OOO a year. Applications in regard to other matters were received almost daily. One was the oaso of a university which was in so sad a plight through overcrowding that unless assistance was forthcoming a number of students must lie shut out. The University of New Zealand, too-, had made proposals involving the. expenditure of a large sum of money, anil had pointed out the necessity of providing Ij!'."' I '' sums of money for their needs. What the deputation had stressed about agricultural education did appeal to him. Harly next month 110 was calling u conference, to be hold in Wellington, of all the lecturers and instructors in connection with, agriculture, for the purpose of formulating a complcto scheme or system of education, tho desire being to take some definite steps forward ami to have agricultural education placed'oll a better footing and made more efficient. He did hopo that where the course was taken up they would be continued. There had been so many cases where they had been taken up for a time and then dropped. Ho liked the idea of giving the young -men n bias towards the land, lhey had heard a lot about town-planning and city beautiful, but there was a guod deal to ba said for making tho country more attractive and so arresting the drift towards the towns. If they could educate tho children of-the peo'ph* .'on\tho Wind to ken 'W''tiie' land iproduction would not only--he carried out,-but increased. , Mr. Outhrie, in thanking the Minister, CTj/1' that the Feilding people wero Anxious io push on, and as tlio local bodies were, all desirous of assisting they

would like to know sit the earliest ocea. sion what assistanco the Government was likely to afford them.

The Minister mado no promiso of any kind, but made some flattering' remarks about tho excellent work which lia<l been dono in.the Wanganui district in fostering ngijicultural oducation, mentioning the names of Mr. I'irani and Mr. Brown 1 (instructor).