The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1903. TECHNICAL SCHOOLS AND THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 209, 30 September 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1903. TECHNICAL SCHOOLS AND THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

It is gratifying to notice that the New Plymouth Borough Council is wakin? up to the need of a technic U school io New Plymouth, and is urging the early passing of the Bill to give eff ct to the exchange of land which will place a site at the disposal of the Education Board. Had the Council followed the example of the Stratford Council, and given the land, the Govern ment subsidy oa the value of tbe laud would have been a valuable help. At Stratford it is hoped to make dairying a principal subject, aud what has re cently taken place emphasises the need of such an institution. In the opinion of Mr J. G, Harkness, secretary of the National Dairy Association, the recen' cable message from London, stating that considerable quantities cf store' butter from New Zealand are arriving in a " fishy" condition, shows th-. necessity for the establishment of b well-equipped and up-to-date experi mental station in this colony, where these matters could be thoroughly in vestigated. " We have urged this up.u tbe attention of the Government," said Mr Harkness to a Times representative, " but nothing has yot been done. We have the men in our Department o'; Agriculture who can do the work, bu there is no suitable place in which it can ba done. Under proper conditions, we should be able to get back some of this butter from London, and have it so thoroughly tested that the cause of the trouble would be disclosed at once ; but as it is, we are working q-iite in the dark, and for all we know the conditions which have made this butter fishy may be still in existence, and may operate against future shipments. The Government, it is true, has done a good deal for the dairying industry; bu u , then, see what other countries aie doing agiiost which we have to compete in tne markets of thi world. Take Russia, [for instance, which subsidises steamera to the extent of .£25,000 and curies the butter of the pamnts ov<tr 3000 miles of railway almost free of cost. And all we ask for in this country is a fully-equipped experimental Station." If tbe Education Board can hava its way, as it hopes to do, if backed up by the local authorities and peopla of the district, a well-equipped experimental station will soon be an accomplished fact in Taranaki.