THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1924. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19270, 6 September 1924, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1924. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

The question of agricultural education, which has been receiving a fair amount of attention lately, was the subject of an interesting discussion in the House of Representatives yesterday. The establishment of an agricultural college in the North Island seems likely in the near future. The question of the location of the institution has not yet been settled, but the Prime Minister conveyed the impression , last week, when he was at. Levin, that the college will be erected on one of the properties that are already in the possession of the Government. The Minister of Agriculture has placed on record in his annual report that the support of the Government has been promised, for the establishment of at least one, if not more than one, well staffed and equipped agricultural college. What we are precisely to understand by an agricultural college may be somewhat doubtful, but, the claims of the North Island to the establishment of an institution of a character which may be linked up with the Chair of Agriculture in Victoria College, and which for that purpose should be located in the Wellington provincial district, cannot be seriously contested. The hint contained in the report of the Minister of Agriculture that the Government may be prepared to support the establishment of a second agricultural college was subjected to some modification yesterday, when Mr Nosworthy said that he had in his mind the strengthening of Lincoln College so that it may be more fully equipped than it is for the purpose for which it exists. That is a scheme the wisdom of which does not admit of question. But it may be suggested that an extension of a form of instruction other than that which is afforded by a college is desirable. It is to be remembered that there are at present three large State Farms in existence in the North Island—at Ruakura in the Waikato district, at Weraroa in the Wellington district, and at Moumahaki iu the Wanganui district—besides a farm at Te Kauwhata, which is devoted to the object, obnoxious to a considerable number of well-meaning people, of vine-culture and wine-making. There is no corresponding institution, however, in -the South Island, which, except for the Agricultural School at Lincoln, has to be content for its agricultural education upon a few demonstration areas and upon such instruction as is provided in the primary and technical schools. It should be obvious that if there is a need for the existence of three State Farms, as well as an Agricultural College and a farm for vineculture, in the North Island, there is a distinct need for the existence of a State Farm in the South Island. It. is idle to that the operations that are carried on at the farms in the North Island, even if these were convenient of access, provide object lessons of definite value to farmers in the South who have to contend with conditions that are widely different from those which are experienced in the North. Upon this, account it is reasonable to argue that the Government, recognising as it must necessarily recognise, the importance to the State of the application of scientific knowledge to farming, should appreciate the desirability of the creation of greater facilities for the instruction of the agriculturist in the South Island. There are valid grounds for advocating the establishment of a State Farm in the South Island, preferably south of Timaru.