Canterbury Agricultural College

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22508, 16 September 1938, Page 10

Canterbury Agricultural College

The announcement to-day that the Government hag approved of a capital grant of £35,000 to the Canterbury Agricultural College for new building* and renovations will be widely welcomed, ;Tt- will 'be welcomed with the greatest Warmth ibid relief by those who know best the c|iscquraging and- difficult conditions in which the work''of the college has for -fhany years been- done/ The dormitory and study accomtjfiodation is appallingly bad. Lecture and de'■ipqn,stration rooms,.; toe more modern laboratory additions excepted, are deficient in numlier, size, convenience, and. •equipment. Administrative accommodation does not exist. The farm buildihgs,-with a few exceptions of recent date, are rotten' and ruinous. ; The truth is that, since the college was established, on a design -and .on-a scale which remind us to-day of far-sighted .and courageous men, little capital ha* been'.spent upon it- and. of that again, little'or* n’othihg has been furnished by the State. The college to-day., in fact, presents the sad spectacle of distresses and needs aggravated by 60 years of financial starvation, and 80 years, of change. Regarding its own material state, x-the college has little reason to be prpud; regarding the continuity ■ and the worth of, its achievement, the college may well be proud of .a triumph over adversity. The. present grant is hot over-generous; it dpes not even measure up-to a full estimate of necessary-im-provements, and additions; but, with the, new annual . allocation, it will lift, the college out ojt aln era of desperate struggle and give it an opportunity, to work without heavy handicaps, f The objects upon which this grant is to be expended.remain to be Among them, it may;be confidently expected; will be some or all of those Mentioned above. The question has somev because 5f an announcement. yesterday, by the Minister for Scientific and Industrial Research, who outlined.the plan upon which plant, and; soil . research ■ is to be • developed.. It will be noted, without regret,'that the recent attempt of. the Department of Agriculture to jockey itself into control has* been ’’ unsuccessful. Dr. Hammond’s reto have been only in part . adopted, and, a,-fuller explanation of what is #‘d r 'and what has been rejected or detnust .be awaited before any comprehenb&hent is made: but so much is clear,' department and the Council ' Research the wise it is hot stated that the Bureau'of Animal Research recommended by Dr. Hammond is to be set up; .and i,t ; seems that the “'agricultural division ”-of.th6;cqiincil is -to have oply “advisory” functions,’ which’may inadequate. Only a “ first step has been taken, the Minister indicates: it is to'be hoped it is nbt , the first 'Step of a; Jimid compromise. 3utjufit.npw.it is unnecessary to go beyond the

evidence which ..shows that the council, rather than the department, is to be the recognised directing influence, and that the agricultural' colleges are assigned a wide province in the work. A great deal will have to be done at Lincoln; and if the grant of £35,000 includes any capital provision, necessary on that account, then it may be found that the value of the grant in meeting the needs of the college, within the present scope of its work, will be accordingly lessened. The Minister’s brief references to the proposed distribution of functions are not sufficient to justify either confidence or doubt. They raise, with the question of division, the question of co-ordination; and the answer is wrapped up in the choice and power and equipment of .the co-ordinating authority. >"