The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1884. IRRIGATION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1274, 6 December 1884, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1884. IRRIGATION.

Some two years ago the question of irrigation was put prominently forward in this district, but somehow it has been lost sight of altogether, and we have heard nothing of it for some time past. For a long time it occupied public attention ; it was brought forward meeting after meeting in the Geraldine County Council ; engineers were employed to report upon its practicability, and Mr Talbot addressed a meeting of the residents of Waitohi on the subject, which meeting pronounced unmistakably in favor ot it, but we have beard very little of it since. The cessation of interest being taken in the matter dates from the resignation of Mr Tripp as Chairman of the Council, but whether there is any connection between the two events or not we are not prepared to say, further than that Mr Tripp was most enthusiastic in supporting the proposal, as evidenced by ihe fact that he has carried out large irrigation works on his own land, and we believe if he had still been chairman he would n,ot have allowed the matter to rest until some decision had been come to. Mr Talbot was certainly one of the most industrious promoters of the scheme, but whether he has allowed it to lapse or is waiting for a favorable opportunity is a matter on which we have no information. So far as we recollect when the subject was last discussed in the Council a decision was come to to defer action pending the passing of some measures in Parliament that would extend the powers of the Council. We have not yet received the statutes passed last session, and consequently cannot say whether the powers required by the Council have been obtained or not. In fact we are in a state of complete ignorance as regards the position in which the irrigation proposal is in at present, and should he obliged for some information on the subject. If the Council would at its next meeting let the public know what has been done since they ceased to discuss it, and what their intentions for the future are, we are sure they would gratify the desires of many ratepayers. However, notwithstanding the mystery in which the question is shrouded at present, we believe the irrigation scheme has not been altogethei lost sight of. Mr Talbot was too thorough a believer in it to let it slip through his fingers, and whatever cause has led to nothing having been heard of it for sometime, we have very little doubt but that it will be resuscitated again. We would remind the Council that now is a very opportune time. If they had it in their power they ought to have considered the cry of the unem* ployed and set the work going some time ago. However, it is probable they had not, and if so it is not right to blame them for it. What we desire to say is that several men are out of employment, that work can be done now cheaper than at other times, and that if the Council can do it they ought to start this work at once. We are sure the members of the Council feel for those who seek and cannot find employment, and that they need only to be reminded of this work to set it going if it is in their power.

I THE TRAINING OF YOUTH. Mr Dawson, Rector of thcTimaru High School, in his annual speech yesterday made remarks deserving of all the prominence it is possible to bestow upon them, and we trust that they will result in bearing good fruit. He spoke as follows With much satisfaction I note that heads of firms have begun to ask of me to recommend boys for employment. I express my obligations to these gentlemen, and would say that employers would strengthen our hands very much if they would make the possession of a school certificate a condition of admission to an office. At the same time I must protest against what appears to me to be a strange craae for genteel employment” that many parents entertain. In our Colonial towns, both great and small, there appear to be growing up many youths who ought to have better ideas of the dignity of labor. By some onr system of instruction is blamed for thig. It ip paid, and I know

there is some truth in it, that our curriculum produces almost wholly raenttl results ; prepares boys for the professions and for merchants and banks rs’ clerks, but for little else. The only radical cure for this is to change our ill but raedisevfil system of education, and substitute technical instruction ; but this is a vast change, and f«-w of us now living will see the result I fear, still the end of the wedge might be inserted now with advantage and profit. Let us make a commencement with small school workshops where the use of common tools might be acquired. We could easily have a small forge and joiner’s workshop, in which boys would be able to make many useful articles, picture frames, map rollers, etc.; where a certain amount of manual instruction would be begun at an age when that wonderful instrument the human band most readily acquires delicacy of touch and deftness in movement, Boys would thus acquire better ideas of the dignity of labour ; they would recognise that the culture of the head and hand go well together, they would see how valuable labor is when skill directs. The needlework room of the girls is a good example of manual industry combined with taste ; if Government grant a few pounds next year we might have a similar room filled with the products of a forge and joiner’s shop.”