The Star. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 1890. School of Agriculture.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6888, 25 June 1890, Page 2

The Star. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 1890. School of Agriculture.

Few matters come more immediately within the province of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association than the consideration of the well-being of the College at Lincoln. The purpose for which the Association exists is for the furtherance in every possible way of the interests of the farmers and farming— of Canterbury Crst, and of New Zealand afterwards. The School of Agriculture was established exactly for the same purpose ; and by how much the Association can promote the welfare of the School, by so much will the Association be furthering the object of its own existence. When, therefore, a Bill was about to be introduced into Parliament to provide for the managemeut of the "school, the members of the Association felt themselves bound to consider what changes in the management the Bill pioposes to effect. From the address of the President, delivered to the Association on Friday last, it appears that the Bill is to make a substantial recognition of the interest the members have in the school, for he said that the Bill proposes to give the Association a part in the management. By way of preparing the members for the acceptance of so grave a responsibility.the Chairman gave them a brief but comprehensive history of the school. In 1872 the Provincial Council endowed the institution, not then in existence, with a hundred thousand acres of land, the funds derivable from which were to be devoted exclusively to the school. This land wbb conveyed to the Board of Governors of Canterbury College, who diverted some .£7OOO or £8000 of tbe endowment from the School of Agriculture to that of Art and to the College. Of the amount thus diverted the Bill provides for the return. As the Chairman attributed the unsuccessful working of the school to the high fees charged in recent years, and the loss of the scholarships which the Board of Governors gave, possibly as a solatium for diversion of the endowment, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the Bill will provide for smaller fees and the re-establishment of the soholarahipg. As matters stand, there is at Lincoln an institution thoroughly equipped for a most important purpose, and comparatively all but useless. If the proposed Bill removes the obstacles to success now existing,there is no reason to fear that the Lincoln School of Agriculture will prove, what it lately has been, little better than a white elephant. But it is now said that the management of the institution is to be virtually taken away from Canterbury, as the governing body is to be composed of nine members, three nominated by the Government, and Bix elected by the Agricultural and Pastoral Associations of Canterbury and Otago. This is a step towards the spoliation of Canterbury's educational endowments which must be vigorously protested against, and at once. The Lincoln College was the result of the forethought and self-denial of Canterbury men, and its management belongs to Canterbury men alone.