Hokitika Guardian & Evening star WEDNESDAY. FEB. 14 1917 AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION

Hokitika Guardian, 14 February 1917, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening star WEDNESDAY. FEB. 14 1917 AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION

Tee informal meeting at the Ednca» tion Office yesterday afternoon with the representatives of the Canterbury Education Board, when some phases of agricultural instruction were d.iscnssed with local farmers and citizens, was as interesting as it was neefnl, In Mr Banks, Chairman of the Agricultural Committee of the Board, and Mr Martin, who has charge of the instruction, there were two entbusi-

aets who possess the power of communicating their enthusiasm to their auditors. To begin with, not only hav6 they their work very much at heart, but they have a pleasing way of communicating their information. Their frankness induced frankness, and in response to the wish to discuss the matter the local gentlemen took up the subject very intelligently, and were able to put local ideas and aspirations before the visitors in a very concrete manner. There is a disposition to tack a good deal on to the Education system these times, but the rural course as expounded by Mr HartiD, should fill a long felt want. As Mr Bruce aptly put it yesterday, a practical rather than a technical education is necessary, and it is the former that the agricultural course is destined to attain. In passing, Mr Banks was disposed to treat the gold mining industry on the West Coast very lightly, pointing out the wealth that might have been won from the soil if agriculture had bad precedence over mining here. But it was the pioneer gold miner who opened up the We6t Coast who has rendered possible so many things in New Zealand, and bat for whose intrepidity the country should never have advanced as it has done this last fifty yearrThe records tell us, that omitting the nine millions of gold won in the Nelson district, the West Coast from Bullet down yielded gold to the vain© of twenty-four millions up to the end of 1915. This is no mean record. But the gold was tha lover to bring population here, to open up trade, and to give land a value by creating a market for the products. Without the enterpr'se of the goldminer it would have taken decades longer to open np the West Coast, and even now we must remember that its mineral wealth is only faintly known. While that is another story, we must recall, too, that when goldmining was the leading industry here, there was the desire for scientific knowledge in respect to development matters, and schools of mines flourished. Now r when pastoral pursuits are beginning to predominate, there will be the desire for agricu!' a! instruction. The country canno r oo soon. Here we have not any idea of what might be done in the matter of intense cultivation. Before the war, Europe was

a wonderful field for that closely applied indnstiial enterprise, and no country more bo than Wo are late, aotmtlly, in beginning to turn attention to the question, and because of that remissness we should se : z-i the present opportunity and make the most of it. One of the gentlemen who spoke yesterday, said he was at a loss to know what benefit Westland was going to derive from its association with Canterbury in matters educational, Here, however, was one way by which a very important result was going to be brought to credir, and the whcla of the speakers heartily weloomt d the progressive idea. Hitherto the outlook for the young, has bsen to circumscribed, and the higher education available ooly trended towards public atrvice appointments. The new conrge to be established here through the agency of tie Canterbury Education Board, will open a much wider field, and a more practical from a national point of view. Mr R. E; Prothero, thß hon gentleman Mr Lloyd George has selected to direct Agriculture at Home in these days of stress, told a meeting of farmers at Preston last Saturday that the farmer was the key to the Empire situation at tin present iuncture. And that is so. The man on the land is a great bulwark to the progress of any conntry. The education of a people in regard to agricultural matters cannot be in too soon, or be conducted too long. The scientific side of tho business is limitless in its range. Taking the young people early will help to create tastes and desires which will have a value all throngh life. It will give a bent to their inclinations which, otherwise neglected, usually go into much less profitable ohacnels. For this reaßon, theD, the instruction will bo of great general value. Taking a line from the remarks passed yesterday, it seems safe to assume that the gentleman who will be controll d> the desirable departure will be quite prepared lo fit the class of instruction in with the requirements oTthe district, and that on those lines the matter is bound to bear good friufc. The results will come slowly, but they will come snrely, we are folly convinced, and we hope the whole project will be launched as completely as possible with the least delay.