HAWKESBURY COLLEGE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1832, 17 April 1907, Page 32

HAWKESBURY COLLEGE.

BY PIERCE 0. FREETH. Special Commissioner of the “New Zealand Times” and “Mail.”)

WHAT NEW SOUTH WALES IS DOING. A NOTABLE OBJECT-LESSON AN IDEAL DEMOCRACY.

[Copyright.] .. " No. I. Thirty-eight miles from Sydney, a stone’s throw from the venerable but unprogressive town of Richmond, and within half an hour’s ride of the famous Kurajong Mountains, stands the Hawkesbury Agricultural College and Exj»erimentstl Farm. This institution is an indication of the responsibility which a sister State feels towards the most important section of its people—the toilers on the land. New South Wales has other model farms and experimental stations. These I did not visit; but what I saw at Richmond quite convinced me that the Mother State is working along right lines. Indeed, it is hard, in reporting upon the Hawkesbury College, to divorce - oneself from the role of eulogist, be- ' cause, in so far as an outsider can judge, it is in every respect a model institution. The college provides for the. training of 20 students per annum. The farm itself comprises an area of 3500 acres, suitably fenced and subdivided. About 1000 acres are under cultivation. As the visitor approaches the main entrance, his eye is caught by a vivid blaze of flowers, and he realises that the aesthetic as well as the practical side of the student is being appealed to. A nearer approach shows ornamental beds of flowering plants, perfect in blending and accurate to plan in the minutest detail. Little gardens and bright spots are found in different portions of the farm ■—even the ffont of the piggery is made bright by a few choice plants and flowers—with a view, as Mr H. W. Potts, the distinguished and courteous principal of the college explained, of encouraging the students to render bright and atractive their surroundings, wherever they may go. The . college is built in the form of a huge square, and recent additions have made it possible for each lad to have a room to himself, which he may decorate or > adorn as his individual taste dictates. Included in the building are a lecture hall, class rooms, labora- > tories for practical work in chemistry, physics, botany, entomology, and bacteriology, and near by are stables, workshops, and farm buildings of every description. One hundred acres of the farm are set apart in small plots, and a series of experiments and tests with roots, grasses, cereals, and methods of cultivation is systematically conducted from year to year, under the direction of an experienced agriculturist. No boy is allowed into the college nnder 16 years of age, and preference ; is given to those who can produce a certificate of having passed a senior or junior university education. Failing these certificates, students must ahow fair scholastic proficiency. It is not surprising to learn that there , is an eager demand for places in the institution, and at the time of my . visit there were sixty dads awaiting vacancies, applications coming not only from the Mother State, but from : all over 'the - Commomnwealth, South Africa, and even New Zealand. In ?- the blacksmith’s shop we saw a young - Boer from-Bloemfontein, shoeing a ' farm horse, like' a master workman. - Recently, as the result of a visit by a delegation from Japan, a student from that country came for - a four - years’ course, and he. is now one of ■- the principals of a similar institution v in Japan. 1% A DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTION. The admission fee,being a nominal one (£25 per annum, with a few v pounds extra for laundry work, medical attendance, and sundries), the ;college is practically open to all r; ' classes of. the coipmmunity, . besides which, six bursaries of £25 each are available from-the Agricultural De- ; . partment every year, for those students whose parents’ .circumstances and their own aptitude render them deserving of fe -assistance. No student can, of course, P during the four years’ term of which the college course consists , attack every phase, of. agricultural study. Selection , is allowed- within prescribed limits, . ,but once a lad enters upon a course £|%>he- must see it through, and the rein sight are annual prizes, preV?r;*&nted by opulent admirers of the college, and eventually a diploma of proficiency, for which good conduct as S I well as hard work, is necessary. Week-

ly examinations are held on current subjects, to detect weakness and correct mistakes. I was invited to lunch at the college by Mr Potts. Just before twelve o’clock the teams came crowding in from the fields, and it was noticeable that a good eye for horseflesh had been used in their purchase. Presently a bell rang, and the boys came trooping into the dining-hall, and took their seats at the table. A short grace by the principal, then all fell to, with much chatter and great clatter of knives and forks. Then in conversation the principal told us of his “system.’’ The college is run on real democratic lines. The boys are upon their honour to work hard and behave well. There is only one punishment for refractory conduct —expulsion; but this is rarely administered, because the boys grow to love the college, and the work, and the homely associations, and the saddest day of all is when the course is run, and leave-taking becomes inevitable. Mr Potts often “makes himself scarce,” to avoid formal good-bye®. “It is too painful,” he says. The chief watchword at the college is Work. The first batch" of boys, or “stable watch,” is roused at four o’clock, to groom and feed the horses. All hands go into the fields, laboratories, or workshops at seven. The hours are eight and a half each day, except on Saturday, when five and a half are worked. At harvest time there is no restriction of hours. The students used to be given free rein at night, but that did not work, for “Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.” So a gymnasium was fitted up, night lectures and entertainments were inaugurated, and matters made so pleasant and attractive that there is now no desire to roam. The school has a splendid library, in which the studious may employ their spare hours or scan the newspapers for current information. Mr Potts encourages football, boxing, and all manly sports, and a rifle range is a recent acquisition to the college, which is turning out some first-class shots from the cadet corps which is one of its most cherished institutions. The students are allowed to smoke and indulge other harmless habits, but no alcoholic liquors are allowed on the premises upon any pretence. - I was not told who selected the ground upon which the college is built, but it was certainly not chosen for its richness or fertility. It consists (except for a small acreage of river flats) chiefly of thin red soil, giving to the eye the appearance of brick dust. It was under offer to local agriculturists ten years ago for ten shillings an acre, and they would have none of it. The college authorities took it in hand, ploughed deep, inserted tile drains where needful, planted peaches, oranges, and grapes, used the spray pump when necessary, fed the roots with green manure, and kept the top of the soil cultivated to prevent the moisture from evaporating, and at the present time they have got forty acres of it, yielding £27 an acre. THE KEY-NOTE OF THE COLLEGE. Everything on the farm is done by boy labour. Self-reliance is inculcated by every available means, and the secret of success is to know how. I saw boys picking, packing, and labelling fruit for the Sydney markets. Cases of luscious white, spotless, muscatel grapes at Is 6d per case. Lads were drying, curing, bottling, and pickling fruit, making boxes, troughs, and gates, ironwork and hinges for gates, hives for bees, and dozens of large and small things required on the farm. I saw them mending harness and making headstalls, and doctoring sick animals. Everything is done patiently, carefully, well. The masters were there, but it was the boys who had to diagnose the trouble, do the workj and prepare the curing draught, and even (the more skilled of them) to use the knife. There is a place for everything, and everything is in its place. 7The stables, cowsheds, even the pig-styes, are perfectly clean, because systematically attended to. Everywhere boys, hard at work. A new road was required through the farm. Big, strapping lads, under an overseer, were busy upon -the work. They used to milk by hand, but the Lawrenee-Ken-nedy machine is now in use. Boys were bossing this show, too, making tests, and putting the product through the separators. “There is only one aristocracy here,” said Mr Potts, during luncheon, and he pointed to a number of boys arrayed in white. “Those are the lads who run and work the dairy.” The principal referred with pride to the fact that H.A.C. cheese is in much demand at the principal Sydney hostelries, and brings 8d per pound all the year round. There is great competition in cheese-making, and each round parcel going to market bears upon it the name or initial of the individual maker* Hams and bacon are scientifically cured also, but these are mostly consumed on the

farm. It takes a lot of bacon and eggs to satisfy 200 boy farm workers and their instructors. The students are keen critics, and as each parcel and product can readily be identified, it goes ill with the luckless youth whose “make” falls short of standard when it reaches the table. I visited the poultry farm, and saw the fowls which are passing through the ordeal of a five years’ laying competition. These industrialists were squatting on little sand areas dotted with grassy mounds, and received attention from relays of boys, who, to prevent the possibility of mistake or collusion, daily take charge of the eggs, and pack and ticket them for market. A hint dropped indicated that the White Leghorns are winning the race over all distances, with Wyandottes and Orpingtons following up hard. Ducks, geese, and a large mob of ostriches are attached to the farm, and here again boys were studying their origin, points, characteristics, breeding, rearing, feeding, fattening, and general management. Farmers from all parts of the country send to Hawkesbury College for stud poultry, in the same way that they do for stud cattle and pigs, and also for seeds and plants. The piggeries constitute a show exhibit in themselves, and as the stock here is being constantly augmented from the best known studs in various parts of the world, the Hawkesbury standard must eventually become a very high one. APPLIED SCIENCE. On every part of the farm the hand of science operates. The foetal matter of the whole college passbs through a septic tank, and, the effluent finding its way by capillary attraction over a considerable area, irrigates and fertilises a considerable quantity of soil. The results in vegetable growth are astonishing. In other portions of the farm also natural irrigation is employed to the greatest advantage, and desert places are made to blossom as the rose. And the boys have to draw the plans, make the plant, and do the whole of the work themselves! Nothing whatever is left to luck. The boys plough, sow, and reap the harvest, and as each student is supposed to know all about the mechanism of the machine he operates, it sometimes happens that an officious official will put a reaper and binder out of gear, or even break a small part, to give the operator an opportunity of exhibiting his resource. Everywhere one’s eye lights on object-lessons of tidyness and pride in work, and everywhere one sees evidences of the advantages of applied science in agriculture. Yes, says the sceptical practical farmer, but where are your results? What is the use of all this? Isn’t this a very expensive fad ? What becomes of the boys who are trained at Hawkesbury? For an answer to these questions, I would like to refer the curious to a periodical called the “Hawkesbury Agricultural College Journal.” This publication, which appears monthly, has much to say of the doings of old boys, and from its pages it will be seen that boys trained at the college are scattered far and wide over the States, and as far afield as the Argentine and South Africa, as wheat growers, dairy farmers, station workers, farm managers, butter and cheese factory managers, vignerons, wool experts, fruit-growers, forestry experts, bacon-curers, and in dozens of other useful capacities. Of course, the institution is not nearly self-sup-porting, but it is spending a lot of money wisely, and throwing out a lever which must eventually exert a splendid influence on agriculture in New South Wales. Not only the sons of “cockatoos” are taking advantage of the Hawkesbury curriculum, because the principal is able to point with pride to two young men at the college who are worth each over £90,000 in their own right, and who are content to share in the common joys and common toil, and there are plenty of rich men’s sons who are training at Hawkesbury in preparation for responsibilities to come. Nor are the advantages of the college confined to students alone. Two vacations are allowed each year. In the winter farmers’ sons are allowed into the institution, to take up work on the farm, and enjoy the advantage of the object-lessons so plentifully scattered on every side, as well as the illustrated lectures which are given by the different professors in . the right season. In summer the masters from the State schools come crowding in to occupy the college quarters and drink in the information so plentifully available amidst these charming and novel surroundings. It will be surprising indeed if on the farms, and amongst the schools where a rudimentary knowledge of agriculture is imparted, such a training as is here outlined does not bear rich fruit in good season. The Hawkesbury College was visited by Mr Seddon. a few days before his demise, and the quick eye of the statesman saw that here something practical was being done. It was not often, he said, in the course of a speech, that he admitted that they

were behind in New Zealand, but h® said, unhesitatingly, that nothing like this institution existed where he cam® from. They had numbers of institutions in various parts of New Zealand, at each of which a special branch, of agriculture was dealt with, but for the full equipping of a young man for a life on the land, a place like the Hawkesbury College, where the curriculum was so comprehensive, could not be surpassed. Mr Seddon’s observations • have double significance to one who has gone over the ground as I have had the privilege of doing. The . question arises, how much longer, with this splendid object-lesson in sight, New Zealand will remain contented to plod far in the rear.