THE PRIME MINISTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15251, 14 March 1913, Page 8

THE PRIME MINISTER.

TOUR IN THE SOUTH. ■ - —■■'■—■ -■

— ■ ■■- f EXPERIMENTAL FAKM SITE. [BT TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Ashburton, Thursday.* The Prime Minister (Hon. W. F. MasseyX " visited the High and Technical Schools ' this morning, inspected the hospital and " transacted Departmental business. At 2 » p.m., with the Hon. R. H. Rhodes, he >■ left by motor for Springston and Lincoln, 1 in continuation of his Canterbury tour. 1 At the High School he formally handed over to the chairman of the Board of Go- * vernors an ensign, which had been handed 1 to Miss Kershaw (lady principal) when on 1 her recent visit to England, by the pupils 1 of Ashburton Grammar School, in Devonshire. ' Shortly after this ceremony had coni eluded, Mr. W. Nosworthy introduced a 1 deputation consisting of members of the J High School Board and the Ashburton ! branch of the Farmers' Union, with a request that an experimental farm should be established in Ashburton. The High School Board had already offered the GoJ vernment its 220-acre reserve, within one . mile of Ashburton, and in this connection . had made three alternative proposals. First, it had been proposed to exchange I the reserve for lands equivalent in value , second, to let the Government have the land at a valuation rental; and thirdly, to give it to the Government at a peppercorn ', rental, provided the Department's experts r would give the necessary lectures to the pupils of the school on agriculture and fruitgrowing. Mr. Massey said that as far as he could k see as regards the establishment of an experimental farm, the offer of the Ashburton . High School Board was the most practical j suggestion yet put forward. It was his i intention to make the experimental farms , more useful than they were at present, and , he intended to endeavour to arrange be- . tween the Agricultural' Department and the , authorities at Lincoln College, so that ; they could work in conjunction for the [ benefit of the farmers,. He contemplated , establishing a Board of Agriculture for the whole of New Zealand, to be composed of , seven members, two or three, farmers from , the North Island, and two or three farmers from the South Island, with the Minister for Agriculture as president. The party was then driven to the re- ; serve in question, and after the condition of the land, its accessibility by road, and . the manner in which it was situated, had been explained, .Mr. Massey remarked: "I ; think this offer will be' taken advantage of."