.362 Agricultural Education. [august, 



After discussing in detail the grounds on which this opinion 

 is based, the Committee observe that they deem the question 

 to be one of grave importance to the agriculture of this country 

 and have arrived at the conclusion that, since Parliament has 

 recognised the supreme importance of agriculture to the nation 

 "by creating a separate Department of State to look after its 

 special needs and requirements, to this Department should the 

 care of agricultural education be entrusted. If the present 

 powers of the Board of Agriculture as to education were taken 

 away, its utility and influence must be impaired. In view of the 

 difficulties which have of late attended the agricultural industry, 

 •of the recent effort of the State to remedy and to minimize 

 those difficulties by the establishment of the Board, and of the 

 confidence which the agricultural community have come to 

 place in it, any reduction of its powers would be a retrograde 

 step. 



Further funds. — The funds at present available for agricultural 

 education are considered wholly inadequate, and considerably 

 increased funds need to be provided, the main source of which 

 must be the National Exchequer. Such funds should be 

 employed by the Board of Agriculture, first, to aid existing 

 and projected institutions in respect of their staff and general 

 equipment ; and secondly, to aid local authorities in making 

 provision for the agricultural work conducted by them. 



Conclusion. — In addition to the points referred to above, the 

 Committee make a number of other recommendations, and in 

 concluding their report state that they are convinced that 

 agricultural education is of such vital importance to the United 

 Kingdom that no effort should be spared in making the pro- 

 vision for it as full and complete as possible. 



The ultimate aim of instruction in agriculture is to improve 

 and to increase agricultural produce, and there is no doubt 

 but that by a general adoption of scientific methods an im- 

 portant development could be effected in every branch of 

 agriculture and in the various rural industries subsidiary to it. 

 By this means, without diminishing the supply of meat and 

 cereals grown in the country, a large proportion of the butter 

 and cheese, the poultry, the fruit and vegetables (to say nothing 

 of the timber) now imported from abroad could be remunera- 

 tively produced at home, 



