Rangitikei Advocate. TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9466, 8 June 1909, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. TUESDAY, JUNE 8,1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

IT is a remarkable laofc that among all the nnmercus motions considered by meetings of the Provincial Councils of the Farmers’ Union not one referred to toe question of training the youth of the country in scientific agriculture. The Education Boards in Wanganui and Wellington districts have done a great deal towards the encouragement of education in agriculture, but there is a suspicion that the support of this new development comes more from theorists' than from practical men. Some, of the leaders of the .Fanners’ Union, notably Mr J. G. -Wilson, have done much for the movement, but it needs much stronger backing from the rank and tile of the farmers than it has hitherto received. It is an easy matter to criticise the methods adopted, ®but criticism is valueless unless it suggests means by which the instruction given may be made of greater utility. New Zealand farmers are very backward in taking any interest in the question of agricultural education, •and the country in consequence is bound to suffer in the future. In the United States and Canada great progress has been made in this direction, and even Britain, which is garded as very slow in taking up new ideas, isLar ahead of New Zealand. County Councils, which in England have charge of education, are makicg investigations and publishing results. The Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society is undertaking experiments in the intensive form of culture known as French gardening. Oxfordshire has model allotments to serve as a guide to the management of labourers’ allotments, and in Hampshire, “a skilled gardener is engaged the better part of bis time in peripatetic philosophy of an inspiring quality. He goes from garden to garden, occasionally lecturing in sortie of the bigger gardens, showing just how this and that thing is'done, how a gooseberry cutting is taken or bow sweet peas are best trained ;or apples pruqed. Children leave the Essex and Suffolk and Oxfordshire schools adepts in grafting and. budding; the best of them are recognised as quite the equals of those who have passed a regular apprenticeship in horticulture.” It may be argued that these methods like those hitherto adopted in New Zealand are rather adapted 1 for gardeners than for farmers, but the principles of good gardening and farming are identical, and those who are responsible for this form of teaching are doing much to interest thejyoung in the land and its products. In any case, as we said before, it is the dnty of those who condemn present methods to come forward with something to replace them, We should like the Farmers’ Union and the Agricultural Societies to take the matter up energetically and make education in agriculture a really live part of the training in ’ country schools. The natural tendency of teachers is to encourage the literary side of education which produces clerks and professional men, and it will need a strong public opinion to give prominence to the more practical side of the scheme of instruction. Many people say that they dq not' make their boys farmers because they cannot afford to buy land for them, but with the advent of more intensive methods of cultivation the cost of land will ha a comparatively small element in the business of farming, while scientific knowledge will-he of great importance.

MANY persons have been somewhat surprised 'by the comparative inaction of Xiord Charles Beresford since his retirement from his position as Commander in charge of the Channel Fleet. He has, it is trne, spoken on naval matters, but his remarks have been marked by the utmost discretion and have been such as might well have come from a supporter of, Sir John Fisher’s administration. The reason for this line of action is perfectly plain from the English papers. Mr Asquith has appointed a Commission to inquire into the efficiency of our naval preparations, a fact that was reported in our cabled news, but it not expressly stated that the Commission was appointed to consider a statement submitted by Admiral Beresford to the Prime Minister in regard to the readiness for war of the Fleets in Home waters during the last two years. The points raised are to be considered by a sub-committee of'the Committee of Imperial Defence, abd the Board of Admiralty concurs in desiring the inquiry. Naturally under these circumstances Admiral Beresford regards himself as muzzled until the report of the sub committee has been published. When his statements are no longer the subject of investigation we may expect to have a full and free statement of the defects of the Navy from his standpoint. FIRES are so numerous in New

the suspicion cannot fail to .be aroused that in many oases they are not of an accidental nature. In cases where there is reasonable oaase for - inquiry a coroner’s inquest is held, but it would be much more satisfactory if a formal investigation were made into the origin of every fire. At present.the mere fact thatan inquiry is held is a reflection on the tenant of a house where a fire occurs, and, therefore, unless there is serious suspicion ho steps are taken. Were it the rule always to hold inquiries it is that the number of fires would be considerably diminished.