The Daily News. FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 1915. FACILITATING AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 198, 29 January 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 1915. FACILITATING AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

It has come to be recognised in New Zealand that the time has arrived when the fanning ami agricultural industries must he conducted on scientific lines. The high price of land in Taranaki necessitates the use of the best methods of agriculture,, and the adoption of every known means to ensure that the land will produce its utmost year by

year, and to that end technical instruction in agriculture lias become part of the State's educational work. S 0 important is uis work deemed in Taranaki. that the provincial Education Board has appointed expert instructors in this branch of study, which will now be thoroughly taught at the Technical College, the schools, and by lectures to

farmers. The chief work must naturally be that of training the younger generation in modern methods of farming, and it is in that direction the best results should accrue In order to carry out the teaching there must necessarily be practical as well as theoretical work, so as to provide a complete system. With regard to the theoretical part there is no difficulty, but it was essential that land should be procured for practical demonstration purposes. Fortunately, the district possesses, in Mr. F. Old, of Sentry Hill, at least one farming enthusiast, who states that he had to acquire his own farming knowledge as best he could by hard experience, often at useless cost and loss of

valuable time. It is, therefore, in the hope of saving the rising generation of farmers a similar hard experience, loss of time and money, and of putting them in the way of learning their business by means of the best scientific knowledge, coupled with expert practical training, that Mr. Old has been moved to offer the Taranaki Education Board the use of eight and a half acres of land at Fitzroy for carrying out the demonstration work connected with the study of agriculture at the New Plymouth Technical College. Such an exhibition of public-spiritedness is all too rare, but that fact all the more enhances the value of the offer, which the Board gratefully accepted. Taranaki is sadly lacking in progressive men of this kind, so that the thanks of the community are doubly due to Mr. Old for his generosity, the more so as it will help to increase the productive power and prosperity of the district for all time, Not only is the land eminently suited for the purpose as to its natural features, but it is handy to town; and is in very fair order. Mloreover, it is the first practical step that has been taken towards placing agricultural teaching on a proper basis, and should prove a potent

factor in promoting the success or technical education in Taranaki, besides serving as a stop-gap until an Agricultural College is in actual existence in the province. We should also like to regard Mr. Old's generosity as the forerunner of other examples of public spirit for the advancement of the district. There must be many who have the means and the opportunity for helping forward some branch or other of work that is for the good of the community, and they may be inspired by .Mr Old's example to follow in uis footsteps. It is not so much the actual intrinsical value of any benefit that may arise from the desire to be of practical use to those around us that counts; it is the force of example that tells, and for that as well as for other reasons the district is under a deep debt cf obligation to Mr. Old, as it will be to all others who lend a helping hand in the cause of progress.