EXPERIMENTAL DAIRY SCHOOL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2818, 18 March 1908, Page 23

EXPERIMENTAL DAIRY SCHOOL.

SELECTION pF NORTH ISLAND SITE. PALMERSTON NORTH CHOSEN. WELLINGTON, March 16. The Cabinet has decided to locate the Dairy School for the North Island at Palmerston North, on land offered by the Agricultural Association in its show grounds. The acceptance of the association's offer carries with it the 45 acres presented to the Government by the corporation of the Porough of Palmerston North as an endowment for the establishment and maintenance of a dairy school . and dairy experimental station, and form- | ing part of section 1536 on the Park road I boundary. Thia endowment will be used 1 for revenue purposes for carrying on the school. There are in addition several other endowments available to the Government producing revenue for this object. By "The Waimate Agricultural Reserve Dairy School Act, 1906," section 32, block 111, Waimate (West Coast, North Island), containing about 9Q acres, was vested in the Public Trustee under " The Special Powers and Contracts Act, 1885," for the purposes of a school of agriculture. The purpose for which this land was set apart was varied to be a reserve as an endowment for an experimental' dairy school for the North Island: There is now in the hands of the Public Trustee nearly £3QO(J from the Waimate Ifceeerve that can be utilised for the school at Palmerstoa North. The sites for the location of the Dairy School that came' under the consideration of the Cabinet were- Stratford, Hawera, Morton, Levin, Palmerston North, Feilding, WoodviUe, Hastings, and Hamilton. With the settlement of the site question the Government will now be able to proceed with the development of as scheme which it has had under consideration for some time. The school will be in charge of Mr W. M*. Singleton (Acting- Dairy Commiesioner), \yho last year visted Canada and Great Britain in order to acquire the latest information in regard to such establishments. It is proposed to appoint a bacteriologist and chemist to the staff of the school, which will have a thoroughly equipped laboratory and lecture rooms for students. This will mean the erection of fairly extensive buildings on the site, including- a butter factory and a cheese factory. It is probable that a commencement will be made with the erection of the factories this season and provision made for a, course of lecturer during the ensuing winter. The laboratory accommodation will most likely be deferred until the bacteriologist and chemist have been appointed, and it is hoped to combine these two positions in one man, to whom will be left the erection of the laboratory plant. In regard to students, the idea is to- train 1 them for the positions of factory managers, whether butler or cheese, and to make pro

vision for their gaining something in the iature- of- a? diploma after a, certain course of ■instruction. It is hoped to establish a liploma that in time will come to be regarded as a condition precedent to securing he position of manager of a dairy factory Irst, the same as a diploma is now granted t a school of mines. The advantage of selecting Palmerston Xorth is that the necessary accommodation for students is available in the township, close to the proposed dairy school, and this will cbviate the necessity of erecting buildings for that purpose. The buildings would have considerably exceeded the cost of the dairy school ii-self. This vexed question, remarked Sir Joseph Ward to a Times reporter, had engaged the serious consideration of the Government for a very long time, and it had now come to the decision that Palmerston was the n.ost suitable place for such an institution. Palmerston was a recognised agricultural centre, where there were great gatherings of farmers from all over the island at different times during the year, and it was a place which was easily accessible from the agricultural districts of the North Island. It would be a- most valuable thing to have the school in the locality of these great gatherings, so that visiting farmers could fee v,-hat was being done there. That was the practice which they found was follow^d in other countries. PALMERSTON N., March 16. The Prime Minister passed through Palmerston by the express to-day. At the sration he was met by a large number of representative local organisations and residents, who expressed the gratification they felt at Palmerston being selected ac the site for the Dairy School. The Prime Minister, replying, said. the Cabinet, in arriving at the decision, had eliminated all offers of land and money, and sought to confer in the question of the site the greatest benefit upon the dairying community as a whole. Men of experience all the world over had selected towns as the sites for dairy schools, and' he- thought Pa-lmerston North especially favourable for the assemblage of the dairying community, apart altogether from the students at school. INDIGNATION AT LEVIN. PALMERSTON N., March 16. The Manawatu Times' Levin correspondent states that many Levin citizens are most indignant at the decision of the Cabinet in placing the Dairy School at Palmerston North, not so much because they think Palmerston unsuitable, but because the school was promised to Levin by the late Mr Seddon long before the matter came into general discussion, and, therefore, before their sites had been offered. It is reported that an indignation meeting will be held in Levin on Friday night, when it is hoped Mr Field, M.P., will be present.