AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1031, 26 November 1912, Page 4

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

Speaking at the farewell gathering at Wellington on Thursday night, Lord Islington made the following references to agricultural education: —He had taken an especial interest in the industry ot agriculture. He regarded it as the very corner stone —the very blood and marrow —of the wealth and progress ot this country. The interest, welfare, and progress of all classes of the community were bound up in the agricultural interests of the country. In the future he would look with great interest on the development and cultivation of large tracts of laud which as yet had been untouched. In connection with that development, he hoped there would come to the people in the backblocks some of those amenities enjoyed by city folk. He would also watch the development of agricultural education and facilities for scientific methods in agriculture, knowing full well that, with the rich soil we possess, the productivity of our land would be increased by 30 to 50 or 80 per cent. He laid stress on that point, because he saw in the development of agriculture our main saleguard as an integral part of the Kmpire—that it would mean an increasing, vigorous and plentiful population, which was of supremest importance to the Dominion. The question of colonisation in New Zealand baulked as largely to-day as it did in the earliest days of New Zealand, and if that was directed on proper lines a healthy race could be attracted to our shores.