CORRESPONDENCE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, 17 July 1930, Page 13

CORRESPONDENCE.

REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. To the Editor of the “ Timaru Herald.” Sir, —The report of the Select Committee on Education has now been issued, and an interesting precis of it appears in to-day’s ‘‘Timaru Herald." As the report seems to deal almost entirely with agricultural education, you may perhaps allow me, as one knowing something of both scientific .and practical agriculture, to make a few remarks on this report. The Committee offers the opinion that the prosperity of Denmark is in part due to its schools. This is quite true; but two things preceded the schools and made the success of the schools possible. The Committee then expresses the hope that the schools of this Dominion may play a similar important part to the schools of Denmark in bringing about prosperity in this country. But, the schools in this country cannot possibly play the same important part in agricultural improvement and development, as the schools of Denmark are doing, until the two things which the Committee seem to have entirely overlooked, are brought into being, namely, profit and the natural attraction of a lucrative calling.

Before Denmark became a successful agricultural country, it was very largely a barren waste of bogs and swamps. And before agricultural education was possible in such a country, it had to be shown, first, that crops could be grown on what was then undrained land; and, second, that they could be grown profitably. When it had been demonstrated that the growing of crops and the rearing of stock could be carried on on those drained and treated lands, and that the profits from this new industry were at least as good as those of the learned professions, the best class of Danish citizen, including the King, became enthusiastic agriculturists.

Agriculture in Denmark, therefore, became attractive because it was highly lucrative. Danish farmers, being well educated men, had a good knowledge of how to prevent their profits from being filched from them by superfluous middlemen, so they very soon began to do their own banking, buying and selling. And, having reached this stage, they had their children taught the elements of agriculture and bookkeeping in the ordinary schools; and, in the higher schools and agricultural colleges, they had them taught practical and scientific agriculture in all its branches, as well as co-operative methods of trading. In this way they have maintained agriculture in Denmark as a highly remunerative calling.

If we in New Zealand are ever to emulate Danish agriculture, we must begin, not with our schools, but by making the practice of agriculture at least as profitable as medicine, law, engineering or business. It will in that way become attractive, and all idle and semi-idle land would be very quickly settled, thereby greatly increasing the wealth of the country. But, in order to do this, we must begin where the Danes began, by eliminating all superfluous middlemen, and by farmers doing their own banking, buying, and selling. This I know is a very large order, but, unless it is done, we shall fail miserably, and it will continue to be possible for farmers to tell the Premiers of the future, as they have told them in the past, that ninety per cent of the farmers of this country are going back; and we may continue talking agricultural education till Doomsday without doing a particle of good. When the farmers of New Zealand have organised themselves as the Danish farmers have done; and when they have made agriculture as lucrative and attractive as it is in Denmark, agricultural education in schools and colleges will follow as a natural sequence.—l am, etc. AGRICOLA.