THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1882. THE SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2572, 5 July 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1882. THE SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE.

The visit of the members of Parliament to the School of Agriculture cannot fail to bear fruit in a desirable direction. Much has been written and said of late about the establishment of such schools, and, although the general consensus of opinion has been in their favor, yet there have not been wanting persons to cry down such schemes on the ground that they are of a nature not sufficiently practical. Notably the farmers of the Taieri district have come to the conclusion that their own system of farming is all that can be desired, and that to endeavor to improve upon itwould be to gild refined gold. These gentlemen are of opinion that it would be waste of money to endeavour to introduce more scientific methods into the treatment of the soil, and that the light of nature and experience are enough to point out the way in which the most can be made out of any laud. So that a visit of the leading men of other provinces to our School of Agriculture has been particularly seasonable at the present juncture. They will have seen that the course pursued is of a strictly utilitarian nature, and that to assert that the students will lose sight of the practical in learning the theoretical is not a just accusation. Mr. Ivey, in his speech at the luncheon, of course admitted that there were deficiencies in the college which would have to be supplier';, but he naturally claimed indulgence for a young institution, and alluded to the conflicting opinions which prevailed as to the methods that should ba pursued. He was perfectly correct, we fancy, when he claimed that the institution had not an equal in the southern hemisphere, and but very few in the northern. Ho might, moreover, had lie wished, have drawn attention to the radical difference existing between the course pursued by the young men there, and that which obtains in similar institutions at home, and had he done so ha would have scored a very strong point against those who cry out against the College at Lincoln. The institutions in England are not worked by the students themselves as a rule; they merely learn to manage, and do not personally perform tho functions involved in farm work. At Lincoln tho boys milk the cows, put in the crops, look after the horses, and, when their time is finished, could as well work singlehanded a twenty acre holding as preside over the destinies of a sheep run, a cattle rauehe, or one of those marvellous corn farms which are the wonder of the Pacific slope. This is, it must be admitted, exactly the sort of training that is wanted for colonial life. Every man should bo able to turn his hand to shoeing a horse or doctoring a sick cow or mending a hedge, as well as to “bossingit” over a number of harvest hands or shearers. Tho members will have observed that this, what we may call" universality of education,” is strictly seen to at Lincoln, and wo may trust that when what they have seen at our college will have become known over the length and breadth of the laud, we shall have no more of such nonsense as that given vent to by the Taieri farmers when they went against tho formation of an Agricultural College in O tago, haeausa the affair would not be likely to be cf a practical nature. THE RAILWAY TAB IFF. The injustice of the existing railway tariff is causing those who suffer by it to become decidedly restive—and it is natural certainly that they should bo so. "When they find carriers successfully competing with tho railways, it is about time that a geno-

ral move was made towards seeing that a very large redaction was made in the scale of charges. Looking at the speeches made by those who have spoken on the subject of late on various occasions, a marked difference may be noted between those who are in Parliament and those who are not. The latter talk with some degree of hope of a differential tariff being possible, while those who sea behind the scenes know fall well that there is no chance of such an proposal being accepted by the House. These latter fully recognise the fact that Parliament look to Canterbury as being the milch cow which is to pay for unprofitable lines. They ;do not like the idea a hit better than their neighbors’out of Parliament, but they see that in the present temper of tho House it is useless to kick against the pricks. They are as well aware as, or rather better aware than, anybody else that the very essence of the original public works scheme was that each district should bear tho brunt if, the lines made through it proved of an unprofitable nature, but they know too well that the general consensus of opinion in most parts of the country is that this theory is inconvenient, and should be burked as soon as possible. They knew very well that differential tariffs are in vogue in New South Wales and elsewhere, hut all this is of no use as long as the majority of members refuse to give up tho narrow interests of their constituencies for sound theory. It is all very well of gentlemen to declaim against the inactivity of our members in this matter, as did Mr Cassidy at the Springfield meeting, but the difficulties that have to be mat by our representatives are almost overwhelming in this matter. The most that can be expected of them is to constantly ply tho Government with representations on the subject. The Government, like the unjust judge, may at last be wearied into granting justice to the district. Our members have, at all events, this much in their favor, that, even if differential rates cannot be obtained, it most be very evident that when carriers can profitably ran in competition with the railways, the Ministry must be forced to see that as much is not being made oat of the Canterbury lines as might be under a more liberal and wise regime.