THE MASSEY COLLEGE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20103, 23 March 1928, Page 9

THE MASSEY COLLEGE

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE HISTOBY OF THE INSTITUTION. The official opening of the Massey Agricultural College at Palmerston North was performed on Tuesday afternoon by the. Minister of Agricul tun?, Hon. O. J. Hawken. The scheme is as yet only in its in fancy. Adequate buildings for t.h> • full functioning of the college have ! yet to be erected, hut a start has been miulc with the adaptation oi j temporary structures. The training o ' students has begun, classes having , started a fortnight ago. • Inception of the College. The college is the outcome of ar. agreement between the Auckland am the Victoria University Colleges to co j operate in its establishmcst. In 1925 ; the late Sir Walter Buchanan provid- j ed £lO,OOO for the founding of a Chai of Agriculture at Victoria College. With a Government subsidy of poun i for pound, the council of the college created such a chair and started a School of Agriculture. Professor G. S. Pcren was appointed in May, 192-. to the chair, and the school was recognised by, the university in Nv vember of the same year. For three years the limitation of an urban site imposed difficulties upon the adequat* functioning of the school, during which period Auckland established a similar school, which, however, carried on under the same handicaps as its sister school in Wellington. During February, 1926, committees appointed by Victoria and Aucklai. 1 University Colleges met to discuss th? advisability of amalgamating the two schools and their unanimous decisi-n was to combine and to form one efficient school in the Palmerston NorthMarton area.

The Prime Minister approved the proposal and promised financial assistance, with the result that in Decembci, 1926, a property at Fitzherbert, Palmerston North, was purchased by the Government as being the most suitable area available. On Setpcmbcr 11, 1926, the college was established by the passing of the New Zealand Agricultural Act and on February J, 1927, the College Council met for the first time. On July 2!.*, 1927, an amending Act, the Masse/ Agricultural College Act, was passed and the college finally established milder its present title and constitution, with Professor Pcren as principal. Possession was taken at the beginning of Juno last year and forthwith organisation was put in hand for th? purpose of teaching and research in agriculture. Buildings and Farm.

The college is situated on the Riverbank Roaifij Fitzherbert, this being a portion of the main north road which runs through Levin, Shannon, and Pelmerston North. It is two miles distant from the Square, Palmerston North, and half a mile south of the Fitzherbert Bridge over the Manawatu River. Pending the erection of the permanent college buildings, classes are being held in the old homestead, a large ten-roomed house, and in a temporary annex. It is anticipated that the dairy factory, which is to be erected for teaching and research purposes, will be completed in time for the courses in dairying to be held during the winter of 1929. The farm is some 865 acres in extent, about two-thirds being heavy clay awl the remainder river flats, which vary from loam to light sandy loam and gravel. The property th.n possesses a wide range of soil types, a distinct advantage to an agricultural

The stock being carried at presenc consists of purebred and grade Jersey and Friesian dairy cattle, Aberdeen Angus bullocks, Romney ■ and Southdown sheep, and Berkshire and Tamworth pigs. The crops being raised represent the range of forage and root crops normal to the North Island*. The courses of study provided by the college embrace those for the degrees of Master and Bachelor of Agricultural Science, there being in adfii* tion short courses in dairy farming', dairy manufacturing, and herd-tesi-ing. Dairy Research Institute. Directly associated with the college is the Dairy Research Institute, which was created as the result of a conference in Wellington last April. It arranged, that the organisation and administration of daily research in the Dominion should be con troll* I by a Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, named the Dairy Research Management Committee, and that this committee should comprise three members nominated by the Dairy Produce Control Board, t,«o members nominated by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, two members nominated by the Council of the Massey Agricultur.fi College, and two members n/ominatrd by the Department of Agriculture. The conference also agreed, int*.r alia, that the Dairy Produce Boar! should contribute toward the cost of the work involved; the research laboratories should form part of the Agricultural College; and the college lan.li, stock, dairy factory, and equipim-’t should, be used flor experimental purposes. At a later date it was decid L that the research unit at the college be named the Dairy Research Insi.tute.

The Institute is to undertake a : l phases of research wfork connected with the production of milk, the mai ufacture of dairy produce, and the utilisation of dairy by-products. Special technical laboratories arc to be provided in the main college building, and the college dairy factory, equipment, and dairy stock are to be utPi icd for research work. The dairy factory, which is in the course of er • tion, is to deal with the manufact o of butter, cheese of different varieti- s, and casein. Pending the erection of the permr ient college technical buildings, temporary chemical and bacteriological boratorics have been provided* n< r the college temporary teaching buildings. *