PENROSE FARM.

Wairarapa Age, 26 July 1930, Page 5

PENROSE FARM.

UNSATISFACTORY DELAYS. PROGRESS LEAGUE VIEWS. PROPOSAL TO INTERVIEW MINISTER. In a discussion which took place at the meeting of the Wairarapa Progress League yesterday, the view was emphasised that the completion of two years’ post-primary education should not be required of boys desiring to enter the Penrose Training Farm. A letter from the Minister of Education stated that it was not proposed to insist upon this condition in the initial stages of the development of Penrose.

The secretary (Mr. J. N. McLean) reported on the replies to his inquiries addressed to district high schools regarding applications for admission to Penrose and on other correspondence on the’subject. The Greytown District High School had replied that they had no applicants at present, but might have ond in about two years. From Carterton there was no response. Mr. McLean said ho had written to the Director of Education urging that the list of eligible pupils should not be restricted to boys who had completed at least two years of post-primary educa<tion and stating that the league was advised that large numbers of beys were desirous of applying, but could not do so if that condition were insisted upon. A reply received from the Ministerof Education (the Hon. H. Atmore) read in part: “You suggest -that a sixth standard qualification should be accepted and that the completion of two years’ secondary education should not be insisted upon. “In reply, I have to say that in the initial stages the Department does not intend to insist upon two years’ secondary education, but I have to point out that the time is long gone when a good education is not necessary to become a successful, scientific farmer. As much intelligence is needed from the farmer as from the average business man, if not from those who enter some of the professions. Further, I have to point out that it is proposed to provide at Penrose Farm, not only practical instruction in farm work, but also scientific instruction in the classroom and in the laboratory, and in order to profit fully from this instruction the boy entering should have completed two years’ preliminary work, especially in science, at a secondary school. “If it should happen that there are boys in the Wairarapa who are unable to attend a secondary school, I have to point out that it is possible for them to enroll in the Education Department’s Correspondence School and to obtain instruction, not only in general secondary subjects, but also in elementary agriculture.” PRACTICAL TRAINING NEEDED. Observing that the response was not very encouraging, Mr. G. H. Perry said that personally he was not in favour of the restrictions proposed (in requiring the completion of two years of postprimary schooling). There might have to be an age limit. The thing to do was to get the boys there. A school or institution of this kind would be of great benefit to the sons of farmers as a place in which they could get practical instruction. Some years ago he tried to get his own son into Lincoln College and was told that if he waited two years he might have a chance. A staff of practical men at Penrose would fill the bill. He often got applications from parents who wanted to get their boys on a farm to learn farming. Penrose, run a. 5. an up-to-date farm; would meet requirements. Mr. T. Beetham: “With not too many professors.”

Mr. W. L. Free said that the paucity of applications was probably due less to a lack of interest than to a lack of knowledge. The value that this farm might have for the district was not apprehended as it might be. Penrose had been left in the hands of a few farseeing men who realised its value, and the. rest of the district took no interest in it whatever. One means of making the Penrose Farm better known would be to place the facts before the district committees of the league. Mr. Perry suggested that it might be possible for the deputation which was to interview Ministers next week regarding the Rimutaka Deviation to interview the Minister of Education regarding Penrose. The utilisation of -the farm had been side-tracked for a lone time.

Mr. W. H. Jackson said that in his opinion the root of the trouble regarding Penrose was that all local interest had been withdrawn from it. The Department was running the whole thing. That was why there was so little response. The proposal that a boy must have two years’ secondary education before going to Penrose meant that it was going to be nearly as expensive to train a boy to be a farmer as to train him to be a doctor.

Members: “And less in it.” Mr. Jackson said that boys who had passed the sixth standard should be accepted. They were getting an example of the curse of centralisation. Mr. Perry observed that he supposed there were hundreds of boys whose parents would be only too pleased to send their boys to a place where they would be trained on practical lines, and, as Mr. Beetham said, without too many professors. Mr. Perry repeated his suggestion that a deputation should wait on the Minister of Education on Thursday.

Mr. Free: “We have educationists on the Rimutaka deputation. Mr. Jordan—”

Mr. Perry: “He is a High School man though.” It was agreed that a deputation should if possible interview the Minister of Education on Thursday next to urge the league’s view that the completion of two years' post-primary education should not be insisted upon as a qualification for entering Penrose.