POLITICAL NOTES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7066, 27 July 1901, Page 4

POLITICAL NOTES.

(Extracts from Hansard)

TABANAKI DAIRy.SCHOOL,

Mr McGuire (Hawera) askod the Minister for Agriculture, W Then the long promised dairy-school, with the mos"t modern and scientific processes for the manufacture of butter and cheese, will bo established in Taranaki, the home of the dairying industry of the colony ? Mr Duocan (Minister for Agrioulture) said if be was to oa,ry out the proposal of the/honourublr member for Hawera, then the Government would have to establish one in the district of every other honourable member in the House.

—n hon. member—l wane one,

Mr Duncan said, Here was one member wanted one and every other member had an equal right to one as well as the taranaki Disciioc.

Mr MoGuire-How many factories have the_> got ?

Mr Duncan said the less factories in a district the more reason there was to establish a school in vrier to teach the settlers dairying. He was of opinion that one d iry-school was quite sufficient for T-.ranaki and Hawke's Bay. At tbe present time there wua no place in Taranaki that was very suitable. ' The estate that had been purchased lately by the Government for tho purposes of land settlement and dairying was not suitable at all, because it was three or four miles away from the railway. Mr MoGuire said the Minister need not stick to that particular epot. Mr Duncan said he was only telling the honourable member what he thought should be done. He thought the place they had already would meet all requirements, and it would be applicable to Taranaki as well as to other places If they established the school even at Haweta it would be ot very little use for the rest of the Taranaki • District, because most of these settlers would have to come quod distanoes by train in order to receive dairy instruction at a school there. It was not us though children were concerned",, and there m ghc be some difficulty in allowing them to go some distance from there homes. The people to be instructed were all grown up, and th« establishment should be such that they should have the very best possible instruction. His impression was that they had a suitable place already at Levin for establishing a school of this kind. The Government had sufficient land there to establish a faotory, and it was in a thriving district, admirably adapted for thin work, It was convenient in every way. It was wiihin half a mile of the railway station on the main line to Wellington, and it was not too far either, he thought, from any part of this end of the North Island, 'ihey had the land, and it was not going to cost much. How could the Government "be expected to take land which had cost £21 per acre for the purpose of starting a school for dairying? That was tbe price paid for the land which the hon ourable member for Hawera had referred to as suitable for this purpose. Mr Pirani said the Minister would be given land_ for nothing at Palmerston North if he'would start the school there.

Mr Duncan said, If the honourable member would supply him with 400 aores of land a; Palmerston, then Pal merston would be the place selected. It was a good cs-mre and there wis nothing against it. He was of opinion that they wanted an up-to-date school when they did start, and there should be one for all the extent of country he had mentioned. If they had a number of schools they would be inferior oi es, for they could not keep an efficient staff to work them properly. He looked upon it as a national work, and, that being so, it should be establish^ in tbe place most suitable and most accessible to tbe whole colony, - Mr McGuire—Where is it to be ?

Mr Duncan—At Levin,