AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Waipa Post, Volume 31, Issue 1775, 26 June 1926, Page 5

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

A NORTH ISLAND SITE.

INSTITUTION.,TO COST £150,000.

(By Telegraph. Press Association.) ••’ Wellington, Friday.

The demands that have been made by the farming communftty for hotter facilities for agricultural education were entirely 'justified, the Minister for Agriculture (the Hon. O. J. Ha'wken) declared in the House. It had been truthfully said that while we had educated the professional classes, little or nothing had bden done for the sons of farmers. The claim made on the Govenrmen't for the expenditure of money, agricultural education up to date was a just one.

New Zealand had had three or four commissions.... continued the Minister, and they' had,' made certain recommendations, and the Government had come to the conclusion that certain measures would have to be gone on with. It was the Government’s intention to' establish' 'ah agricultural college as pear, the centre of New Zealand as possible.' Lincoln used' to be near the', centre, of New Zealand, but was riot riow’.'-'^The'centre was now somewhere to the north of Wellington. It was the Government’s intention to found a college of high standing in the North Island.;;. The Government had come to a decision op, that point. Mr E, P, Lee: Will'the college have the power to grant- agricultural degrees? • Thel Minister.:, Certainly. I believe the Government intends the college to be a high-class one, capable of granting degrees. At one time it was a fact* that the farmer's objected to receiving advice . from experts. But of late years that spirit has entirely changed. Wherever I have been in New Zealand the farmers have asked me again and again that instruction in agriculture be given, and the difficulty is now not to find work for the instructors, but rather to find sufficient officers capable of imparting the necessary knowledge. The Minister believed that the college would be the means of providing the necessary instructors for farmers, and that,,in future 'the farmers would make even' greater demands for in-< structors to teach their sons. A spirit of progress was certainly awakening. It would be found that the students of the college would-be wanted for instructional work .and for research. HEAVY CAPITAL COST.

Referring to the cost of establishment, Mr Hawken said that probably £50,000 would be required to buy the farm, and probably ,£IOO,OOO for buildings while the s't’affiwOUld cost from £15,000 to £20:000" "annually, though he did not lay "tfiat 8 down definitely. The college would be governed by a hoard or council/ and' there had, been some discussion as to representation, hut he believed ' an* agreement had been come to On that score. With the establishment of the college he believed the farmers of New. Zealand would he able to carry on more efficiently and make a .better; .liviugythan they had done in. the past, .There could be no doubt that,’.vfas pressing need for research work.' ‘" Lincoln College had done a.lot. ip -this, connection, and its study of .wheats - apd grasses was well known'; indeed, its work on wheat had resulted in increasing the revenue of wheat growers to A considerable extent. The; Cawthron Institute was also doing -great work. During hi s recent visit to the fruit lands he had been told that the, Institute’s discovery of the natural enemy of woolly aphis had meant a saving of' £IO,OOO a year to the Nelson'district. ,r A The Minister said further that he did not know of'any"other means of education that would pay the country so well as education in agriculture, which the Government intended bringing into force. He had to confess that, even with the experts, now at the disposal of farmers, it was difficult Wadvise farmers on all occasions or difficulty as to the best course. We were not so sure of our position in New Zealand as we might he, and it was most important in a country such as ours, so largely dependent upon primary products, that we should have the very best agricultural educational facilities it was possible to provide.