MR. R. BROWNE.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 November 1918, Page 2

MR. R. BROWNE.

■, an appreciation, ' (New Zealand Farmer.) Sir R. Browne, Director of Agricultural Education in Taranaki, is temporarily relinquishing' his instructional and organising" activities to join one of the reinforcement drafts. It is appropriate that the.se columns should recognise the fine work Mr Browne has done in the cause of agricultural education, and tho lessons to be drawn therefrom. Ha is widely known for hia enthusiasm and for Ma intimate knowledge of farming practice, and problems of tho districts where he lias labored. He owes much of his success to an inborn power of keen: observation which hag provided him with data that has proved of great value to the rural industries of Taranaki. The chief value of his work seems to come from tho manner in which he has aroused interest in and support for agricultural progress in his province. This has been accomplished mainly through the medium of his farmers' classes, which have served as instruments to 'impress on tho adult rural community, the need and benefit of bringing science to the aid of practice. The farmers, impressed with their concrete personal experience of the value of science applied to agriculture have become ardent advocates of agricultural science in the schools, for they understand the possibility of tho work for the scholars, particularly by those of the secondary schools. There is generally to be found a proportion of the farming community prone to scoff at tho idea of being taught how to improve their practice. They frequently take up the position that, endowed with their life-long experience, they have nothing to gain by listening to what they are inclined to term the "new-fangled snggestiono of theorists." These conservative! scoffers are probably less numerous and lc3s often heard itl Taranaki than in any other part of New Zealand. There, the voicing of their views is not encouraged by the more progressive neighbors who have attended the courses organised by tho Education Board. Often, again, they have been convinced by the practical nature of the lectures and demonstrations, and have admitted, pevtiaps grudgingly, the value of the work. The success of Mr Browne's efforts points to the need of having the work of instruction to farmers in the bands of trained teachers capable of effectively marshalling their facts so that they leave the desired impression- The attainment of this result calls also for ability to present the information in simple, commonplace language rather than in the strange foreign language of science ,which is appropriate only for the college lecture-room, but whicK so many specialists seem unable to discard under any circumstances. The success of the work in Taranaki, under Mr Browne, points also to the advantages of having the whole system of agricultural instruction from that for the boy to that for the farmer in the hands of the Education IBoard—a reform which was recently advocated in these columns.

The good results that have attended the work among the farmers in Tarar.aki hiue naturally been reflected in the schools. It has promoted the sympathy of the parents and spurred the interest and emulation of the teachers. We hope that Mr Brown will soon be free to Toturn to his position', for we feel no doubt that ho Teeognises scope for improvement in tho school work in agricultural instruction in Taranaki just as there is similar scope in every other district in New Zealand- He'no doubt aims at greater efficiency in the future, and to this end has planned ways and means which will be put into operation as soon as opportunity