Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878,] FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1894. UNIVERSITIES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4790, 3 August 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878,] FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1894. UNIVERSITIES.

We are not so|ry, that the proposed Wellington University project hangs fire. Of course, from a purely local standpoint, the proposal demands, and must receive, a good deal of support, but from a Colonial aspect we question whether there are not already too many Universities in New Zealand, Now and again wo hear of highly paid Professors with a nominal class of pupils, and the average cost of each graduate must be very considerable, The public estate is heavily taxed for the support of higher education mid the community is turning out more lawyers and professional men than we havo room for, Universities are not the training institutions that are most Heeded, We have but one Agricultural College in the country and that one has been a failure in the past from mismanagement, and in a colony like this we need more agricultural schools and fewer Colleges and Universities. Enormous sums of public money are expended to train professional men who are likely to be of very limited use to us, and littlo or nothing is spent on teaching the science of agriculture, upon the knowledge of which much of the futuro wealth and prosperity of the Colony must necessarily j depend, No encouragement is held out to lads to learn the art of cultivating the soil, but every inducement is held out to them to train for overstocked professions. The most valuable class in the community is that of the producers, and mouey spent in assisting them must be reproductive. Turning out useful colonists seems to bo the last object which the promoters of higher education havo in view. From an ornamental point of view Welling, ton will no doubt give a preference t,o University institutions, but practically the real need of the Enipiro pijy 'is an Agricultural School.