The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND MONDAY, MAY 5, 1930 THE HUNT IN PARNELL

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 963, 5 May 1930, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND MONDAY, MAY 5, 1930 THE HUNT IN PARNELL

A SCORE of politicians lias been in full cry over tbe Parnell electorate like a pack of hounds on the scent of a fox. And the end of the hunt is now in sight. Soon there will he a “kill,” but no one yet may predict .with confidence the huntsman to whom the brush will go. Reform feels assured of the prize largely because the chase is on a field that was easy hunting ground for Hie party without a fall for fifteen years; the United Party expects to gain the trophy on the plea that the reward would help the Government to redeem some of the many promises it has broken and to do a few of the things it lias failed to do; and Labour, riding in a coat less vividly red than in the past, is content to he wistful about it and maintain a quiet confidence. And-whatever else may be said of the prospective result, honesty demands an admission that Labour’s representative, though not too well mounted, is the shrewdest rider. Meanwhile, Parnell electors and the citizens of Auckland who ..take an interest in national affairs, are heartily sick of the noisy pursuit of the party fox. They had hoped that this pplitieal test (to change the metaphor) would have brought into welcome prominence some latent merit in candidates, if not in the professional politicians who are trying to help them. So far, such hope has been a waste of yearning and sympathetic anticipation. The whole campaign at its best has proved conclusively that the country at the moment is without a statesman and even an outstanding politician. If there were no party labels any one of the three candidates would serve as well or as badly as another, for none has contributed a new constructive idea. Of course, there has been no dearth of loquaeity, but such argument as has found exercise on the different platforms may he described and dismissed as stale talk. A full record of the candidates’ speeches and those of their party allies would read like a Hansard narrative of an extravagant party debate in the mediocre House of Representatives—tedious and vain repetition. This evening, the Auckland University College will resume its educative lectures on municipal government. Is there any chance of extending the same informative guidance to groping politicians? There is need of it. As Mr. Bloodworth. the Labour candidate, observed on .Saturday night, the electors would be glad that at last one gentleman had come into the field who dealt with real political issues—the lion. W. Downie Stewart. The tribute to the Reform member .or Dunedin West as a careful student of political economy was paid m such a manner as to serve also as an oblique compliment to Mr. Bloodworth who, in the form of a wish, issued a gentle challenge to Mr. Stewart for a test debate. This may be attributed to courage rather than to quaint conceit. It is completely true that the former Minister of Finance in the Reform Administration is the one gentleman who, at last, has come into the Parnell field with ability to deal with real political issues, hut even he, though far in advance of any one of the other campaigners or all of them put together, lias had a characteristic habit or just stopping short of dealing fully with vital issues. Take, for example, Mr. Stewart’s reference to the important question of protecting industries as a means of stimulating local manufactures and promoting employment. The competent, but canny legislator from Dunedin twitted the Labour Partv on its evasive policy in respect of tariff protection for industries and fairly expressed the opinion that the public was entitled to say to Labour: Put in black and white what your views are on this question.” Why confine that advice to the Labour Party? The public also is entitled to know what the other parties are prepared to do about the stimulation of Hew Zealand manufactures The Reform Administration in its long day did not do as much as it should have done to protect the country’s manufactures against foreign competition and a flood of imports which drove New Zealanders out of work. The United Government has done nothing at all to promote factory industry and does not appear to have an idea on the subject. Labour side-steps the question Let the three parties declare their respective policies. Meanwhile, the huntsmen and the pack are yelling about nothing in Parnell. c

AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION

'THE existence of a constant demand for agricultural instrucI tion for boys is shown in the report that the school of instruction run in conjunction with the Ruakura State Farm cannot accommodate all those who wish to enter it. The annual report states that 49 youths were enrolled in the year under review, and that there is a considerable waiting-list of applicants who have not yet been accommodated. In view of the importance of a constant supply of new and competent young farmers to settle unoccupied lands or take over farms cut from larger existing areas, the position thus revealed appears to warrant the attention of the Government. Agricultural instruction has been made a political catch-cry, but if it is a fact that young men who want such training are unable to obtain it, something more than verbal enthusiasm is required. In the past a useful type of farmer has been turned out by the farm instruction schools, which now to some extent are being supplanted by colleges run on more pretentious lines. There may be some excuse for the suspicion, however, that the farm schools and the agricultural colleges should be maintained as separate and distinct institutions. A good many practical farmers have a lasting horror of any system of agricultural instruction which submerges practical values in a welter of scientific theories, and accordingly they hesitate to send their sons to colleges at which a higher grade of agricultural instruction is given. Men who would willingly send their hoys to Ruakura might he reluctant to send them to the Massey Agricultural College at Palmerston North, because rightly or wrongly they suspect that at such places too much instruction is given in the lecture room and laboratory, and not enough in the field and the stock-yard. There have been instances in which the course of instruction at agricultural colleges has diverted students from their original intention of becoming farmers, and turned them instead into academic theorists who ultimately find positions as lecturers on practical farming. If a second generation of students has to be taught by such men, the danger that theory will overpower practice will increase. For those who prefer them, and believe that farming is a wholly scientific occupation, agricultural colleges offer a very useful form of preparation; hut there will still remain room for the more practical form of instruction given at places like Ruakura, and it will be distinctly unfortunate if lack of accommodation for students continues to prevent these farm schools from giving their full value to the country,.