LINCOLN COLLEGE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1629, 21 December 1912, Page 10

LINCOLN COLLEGE.

DIRECTOR REPLIES TO CRITICS. ■ During the course of the speeches'made in connection with the "Farmers' Day", gathering at Lincoln. College, the director of tho.college, Mr..R. S. Alexander, dealt briefly. with • the critics of the college, who, he said, 'had made: various statements ".either through ignorance or malice. They seemed to have little idea of the. true functions of an agricultural college. He took it that such a place could either be, 'firstly, a training scliool for teachers, of, 'secondly, a training school for those who were to be. farmers. Thero was no necessity for such an institution as the first in New Zealand, as tho appointments for graduates from sucli a college were .very limited, but lie claimed that the 6econd>.was eminently necessary, and Lincoln was a college of this character. The students at Lincoln were given a good grounding in the fundamentals of their business, and there was 'no suggestion that theory was divorced from practice in their course. It. had been said that there ■ should'be more experts on the staff, snch is horticulturists, viticulturists, ctc., but te considered that the function of the college-was not to go beyond tho general jeops of ..farming..lf' a .student eventually decided to go in for special branches, then lie could get that special knowledge afterwards. He had heard comparisons made between .Lincoln, and other colleges' in Australasia, but/he would "bo willing to back a team. of Lincoln College students against, any representatives of other colleges for'a good, : useful knowledge of general principles of agriculture and management of stock.! It had also ..been said that : the institution should accommodate ' more students,, but he . considered .that tho limit hacl iunder-the present circumstances.' ''As' it'was now, every student was employed to. the full in reproductive work; if tlieyliad more, they must either make thorn.,do. unreproductive work or encourage them' to loaf. They could not teach students—many of i whom were of.'"new chums," and • also run an experimental'or a model farm, although thoy were doing valuable work as regards the former. Tho farm was; well and properly run on a commercial;'basis;' and tho best' criterion of the mariner in which." it was worked was tho fact ..that it was a paying concern.