SOUTH OTAGO FARM INSTITUTE OFFER

Press, Volume C, Issue 29514, 16 May 1961, Page 8

SOUTH OTAGO FARM INSTITUTE OFFER

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, May 15.

The South Otago agricultural education committee in a statement today urged the Government to accept the offer of a Balclubha property for the establishment of a farm institute. The committee said that the 1958 consultative committee on education had recommended that two institutes be set up. They were intended to provide a oneyear course in agriculture for boys whose formal education had ended. Bursaries and boarding allowances would be provided. Local farming interest had undertaken to supply 1500 breeding ewes, 30 dairy heifers, and 30 breeding beef cows for the Baiclutba property. Local businessmen had also offered practical assistance. The South Otago committee said if adopted the scheme would relieve pres-

sure on the short-term courses at Massey and Lincoln. But its real worth would be the production of highly-skilled young men to take their place as farmers and farm managers. The committee believed that today agriculture was obtaining recruits who were often ill-fitted to adjust themselves to the increasingly scientific and technological approach required if grassland and livestock development were to advance as it should.