PENROSE FARM

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 97, 21 October 1936, Page 4

PENROSE FARM

TRAINING FOR LADS

TRIBUTE TO TRUSTEES

(Special to the "Eventnn Post.") ' MASTERTON, This Day.

: With the inauguration of a scheme of practical farm training for; lads—a scheme in which preference,:will be given to the sons of returned soldiers —a particularly interesting stage has been reached in the history.of, the Wairarapa Training Farm at Fenrose. Even a cursory survey of, the administration of the farm during a period of nearly twenty .years shows that the trustees controlling' the property, of whom Sir William Perry is: chairman, have, discharged their, .responsibilities in a manner which entitles them to credit and to public gratitude;..

The training farm,, which was acquired, in 1918 and established in 1919,. primarily for the training of returned soldiers desirous of taking up farming and to be used later for purposes of agricultural education,- consists of an area of 736 acres at Penrose,..of which 436 acres were purchased by. the Wairarapa Patriotic "Association with, funas contributed by settlers r ß3o acres of the area included in the farm being donated by Sir William Perry. Government- grants totalling £11,000 were made towards the cost of erecting buildings- and the development of the farm.. . « . ,< No time was lost in putting the farm into use in the training, of returned soldiers. ■' Buildings haying ' been erected. and other necessary preparations made, 53 returned -men were trained from 1919 to 1921. From 1921 onwards, on account of slump. conditions, no further returned soldiers applied for training, and the farm thereafter was conducted as a mixed one, devoted principally to -sheep farming and dairying. _ . ' !- Some criticism of the trustees has been heard at times, chiefly on account of the halt in training operations after the demand for training by returned soldiers had ceased. It is fairly obvious, however, that criticism. on thesa lines overlooked essential facts—particularly that over the period in- question there was no effective demand for agricultural training, and that the completion of the training of returned soldiers left the farm rather heavily burdened with debt. This included a bank overdraft at. £8000 and:a further debt to a substantial amount., It certainly cannot be said that the trustees have neglected any .opportunity of bringing the farm into use as a centre of agricultural training. When, an attempt was made some years ago. With the co-operation of .the Department of Education, -to.promote a scheme of agricultural training, there were hardly any applications from intending trainees. On' the other hand, in spite of the years of extreme depression of agricultural-.- industry through which the Dominion* and the rest of the world have passed, the training farm has been administered and developed so capably by the trustees that it stands today as . a .highly-im-proved property in first-class condition, entirely free of debt During the period of its administration; by ( the trustees, the farm has been improved greatly by drainage, the sub-division of paddocks, etc. The- pastures-' have been established in certified .grasses and clovers. . ..■ . ' ■ .tj.