AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 July 1917, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

SIR JAMES VIEWS. In his address to the Farmers' Union at Wellington cu Tuesday, Sir James Wilson said: The Kaiser wis set us ft (ask which fiv.v countries have ever been set in their youth. . . but wo cannot get away from the fact thai, the war will cost us thirty or forty million pounds, and interest on the larger sum means two million more to ho raised by way of taxation than before the war. This will curtail incomes. 'The only way to increase wealth is to produce it. . . lam sure that if we buckle to, in a few years farmers can increase the output by 25 per

rent, per year. Not in money value, for that depends upon the 'world's markets, but the quantity. ''Speed the plough," is another way. Cheaper and quicker work by employing machinery. Our Wool will always—if well grown and the country not overstocked—fetch a high price. Food must he used in the world, and we can supply it possibly

; cheaper than any other country on the - whole, owing to our climate. It is of i infinitely more consequence as far as i immediate production is concerned that the present occupiers should farm their i land to the best advantage than that i further Crown 'lands should be settled, • though that must go on too. We can, : by proper methods, I am convinced, ■ largely increase our exports. The only plan to make our way through the mor- ' ass of debt which we, will find ourselves in after the war, is by the exercise or the .same energy and pluck shown by "our bovs" at 'the front. Remember how true it is that "Nothing is denied to 1 well-directed labor and nothing is accomplished without it." Brains and energy must go hand in hand, and brains require education. We want the younger ■generation to have better directive power—for naturally we do not admit that" they have more brains—to their energies, for upon them will devolve the task of building a roadway across the morass. The question then comes, what are we doing to train the brains of the agricultural world which is growing up? We have talked and talked and talked, and although we have advanced to a slight extent we have not got as far as we were entitled to expect. Mr. Hogheu has supplied a full, comprehensive and complete report as to how agricultural education can be advanced, hut we do very little. Fancy only two or three bachelors of Science of' Agriculture in New Zealand! The place ought to be plastered with them. Such a degree in the Dominion, which is dependent upon agriculture in nil its branches, should ensure any man or woman (for there are openings for women as well as men) a good place in the educational world. T am glad to say that the "flitting" of the ■experts of the Agricultural Department has been made from Wellington to Weraroa—and I should like to thank Mr. MaeDonald for this change, for it is a distinct advantage—they have taken on a certain number of cadets to train and teach, and these young men may eventually be absorbed in the Government departments. They ought, however, to he able to take a degree. The time passed at Weraroa should be occupied with the ■practical work of their course in taking a decree : which would be a "Hall-mark" on their going into any occupation. The eadcts should have "been through a couple of years at the Victoria College or any other of the University Colleges, and then go to Weraroa. and after a rear there, go back to their University College to get their degree, and they would he better equipped for their work in life. I go so far as to say that anv ynu"g man who-e parents could afford it would he greatly benefited hy''going for even one year to any of the Colleges connected with the University, and taking the classes which would bear upon their future work. Then we ought to have a Chair of Agriculture. If .1 chair ■were established at the Victoria College, the .-eientisfs at Weraroa could he a great help. AVe should never rest till we •iM'.'e n Chair of Agriculture established. I have taken Wellington as an instance, uiit there is every reason why there should be several professional lecturers in New Zealand. There are two instances of advance in agricultural education which I cannot close without mentioning. The work of

the High School at Ashbnrton and the farm which lias been started at Stratford. The governors of the Ashbnrton High School had a reserve. They wanted to further agricultural education, and they referred the matter to the Board of Agriculture. That body .was able to bring about a complete co-ordination of the work of the two departments, viz: Education and Agriculture. A science master has been appointed to the school, and he also has supervision of the operations aricl experiments going on on the reserve which lias been practically turned into a small experimental or demonstration farm. It has the advantage—which to my mind is essential to the success of any farm of a similar nature—of local interest. The governors of the High School are keenly interested in the success of the work. They have a local knowledge which is of great help. They act as a ferment to create interest and enthusiasm amongst the people of the district, who will come to look upon the

work with pride, instead of tlie indifference usually displayed in connection,, with a Government farm. Tlie farm at, Stratford is a movement which should lie an example to all districts of how to supply themselves "with an experimental station in their midst. A number of men said "a Government farm on land different to our own cannot teach us much. We should have a farm in our midst." They had among them a moving spirit and enthusiast in agricultural education, Mr. Tlrown, under the Education Board. " He had, by real hard work and energy, got tlie farmers to have confidence in him. He showed them how they could get this farm of their own, and they worked for that great end. They rented a farm and determined to make this a demonstration of how to make dairying pay on a farm properly conducted. They got the assistance of Government—l understand they are to receive £509 a year for a few years from tho Minister, and again the Education authorities, the Agricultural Department -and tlie people of tiie district are working hand-in-liand for a great object. If such farms could lie multiplied in various districts, together with co-operative experiments, they would get uracil greater benefits from them than from an expensive Government experimental farm. Tlie truths of agriculture can be taught anywhere, but the methods and the rotation change with every variety of climate and soil.