THE WAY TO THE LAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXI, Issue 15494, 21 December 1910, Page 8

THE WAY TO THE LAND.

A srcGEsnox made by Mr Duncan Macfarlano at the gathering at Lincoln College yesterday for securing the closer association of tho institution and tho farmers desorves the serious consideration of tho Board of Governors. Tho College is able to give its students a thorough training in scientific farming, and the scrvico it is rendering tho dominion in this respect, fully justifies every penny that is spent upon its maintenance. But it is obvious that the man already on the land does not secure so Inrge a direct share of benefit from the work of the College as ho might do. Mr Macfarlano mentioned that in Now South Wales and Victoria “ farmers’ classes” aro conducted during the winter months, when busy men have the time to gratify their desire for knowledge of the most modern methods of working the soil, and it should not bo difficult to arrange for similar classes in Canterbury. It is even more important to see that the young men who take the College course have every possible opportunity to apply the knowledge they have acquired. It is an unhappy fact, suggestive of the present imperfect state of our land laws, that many of the (students, after devoting several years to the study of farming in all its branches, cannot get upon the land. This is a point for the Government and tho Legislature to consider. Tho graduates of Lincoln College cannot be given preferential treatment, by the State, of course, but in a country dependent for its prosperity, nnd, indeed, for its very existence, upon the primary industries tho way to the land should be made easier to these young men than it is at present.