MAKING FARMERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2708, 12 January 1910, Page 2

MAKING FARMERS.

TRAINING YOUTHS ON THE STATE FARMS.

In the course of the dehates in the House of Representatives, the Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. T. Mackenzie) made reference to the fact that he proposed to place a certain number of young men on one of the State farms in the North Island, where they .would be allowed to earn their own livings and at the same time be given instruction in practical farming. He added that he did not wish to go ahead too rapidly at first, as the work was to a large extent experimental, but he felt very strongly that there was a real need for the provision of means by which young men .might learn farming. Experience had shown that in most cases they could not secure an allround training by going on to an ordinary farm, where their whole time would probably be occupied in following one branch.

The Minister of Agriculture passed through Christchurch last week on his way to the soutbq and in conversation with a representative of the “Lyttelton Times” he gave some further particulars of his scheme. “We have erected the necessary buildings at the Ruakura State Farm for the reception of about twelve youths,” he said, “but the necessary equipment is not yet to hand. The number is small for tile reason that this is merely an experiment. If it proves a success, as I trust that it will, then an extension may be possible. My idea is to let the students’ labor go to the credit of their keep, and at the same time ensure that they shall learn farming in all its branches. We do not want to turn out shepherds, or ploughmen, or milkmen, but real farmers, capable of taking up land on their own account and working it in the best interests of the State and of themselves. When one considers the enormous value to the country of the farming industry, it is remarkable that we should have made provision lor every other sort of technical training and left the farming alone. I am not forgetting Lincoln College, which is admitted on every hand to be a splendid institution, but which can deal with only a few boys, and has to charge fairly heavy fees. “The Education Department is doing a good deal’ towards giving the lads at school a learning towards the life on the land, and some elementary knowledge of farming, hut we want to get the boys a few years later, at the time when they are choosing a trade and taking up their life’s work. It is an absolute fact that at the present time it is almost impossible for the young man without means to learn to be a farmer except by .the expensive and often disastrous method of experimenting on a holding of his own. thereby making mistakes that would easily have been avoided with the aid of some preliminary training. Boys can get employment on farms, it is true, but they do not learu anything beyond the work of the farm laborer; often they are mere drudges. I speak from experience, for I have two lads of my own anxious to go on the land, and I have failed in the endeavor to get them anything like decent train- “ The young men on Ruakura will earn their own livings, will learn farm, ing, and at the same time will enable

the Agricultural Department to conduct valuable .experiments without any heavy demands on the public funds. If we can extend the system later on I am sure that the country will benefit,’.’