THE DAIRY SCHOOL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8538, 19 March 1908, Page 5

THE DAIRY SCHOOL.

WHY NOT A DAIRY FARM ALSO? The New Zealand Times, in the course of a reference to the Dairy School, says: "That Palmerston is a splendid site for a Dairy School no one will deny, and few will criticise the Government for its selection of the Manawatu capital. . . ai) up-to-dato experimental dairy farm is a natural adjunct to a dairy school, ~n.|, n .| i s necessary if the educational and experimental functions of tho school arc to be - thoroughly effective. The Government having selected Palmerston as the location for tho school it should not make the old mistake of "spoiling the ship; for a ha'porth of tar," but should look well into the future and found the school in the right way by establishing a farm in connection with it. j "In its proposed form the school will be merely an institution for imparting a knowledge of up-to-date methods ot manufacturing butter and cheese. And it. is doubtful if the class being thus specially catered for will appreciate it. In the first place, the majority of dairy factory directors will require to be educated "to appreciate the thoroughly qualified manager before it will pay men to undergo special training for factory work; and tho bulk of the men who are croin"- in for the business will probably prefer to learn the trade in a good factory and 'thus bo able to earn their living while securing their training. Ine Dairy School should be something more than" a training centre for factory manacers. . It should be an institution ior Ih<- education of experts—butter and cheese instructors, dairy produce graders, dairy inspectors, dairy farm managers, and tho rapidly increasing class at. the commercial er«l of the business who. require some scientific knowledge ot the I industry. ! "The establishment of an up-to-date dairy experimental farm in connection with the school presents no insuperable difficulties. The Weraroa Experiment Farm conld be subdivided and sold to advantage, and the proceeds of the sale would provide tho bulk of the purchase money for a suitable farm in the Palmerston district; in fact, a farm of sufficient area at Palmerston could be secured at tho present value of the land comnrising the Woraroa statiqn. "Should this process be regarded as unfair to Levin, a simple way of giving the district a Government institution would be for tho Department, of Agriculture to effect a sale with the Lunacy Department by offering the Weraroa farm as a site for an asylum, to take the place- of the Mount View institution, which must "be soon transferred from its present congested environment in the city of Wellington to the country. "The Lunacy Department could afford to pav well for the Weraroa farm by Ihe high value it would receive for the Ncwtown site. We commend the suggestion as a most, feasible means of overcoming the apparent difficulty in est'i Mi shiner the Dairy School in the right n way."