Abstract

The relations which should exist between the two great Departments which are found in most civilised states, that which concerns itself with education and that which is charged with the investigation of Agricultural problems and the proportion of improved methods of agriculture, have always been rather an open question. The history of Saidapet in our own Province, shows how the pendulam has swung first one way and then the other. We find the Educational and the Agricultural Depart- ment each at times controlled that Institution, while for a consi- derable time the problem was solved by a system of joint control. It is fitting therefore that the subject of agricultural education should receive special attention from those concerned, and cer- tainly there has in the past, been no lack of discussion, marked at times by considerable misconception and lack of a sense of proportion. The matter formed one of the most important sub- jects for discussion at the meeting of the Board of Agriculture at Coimbatore in December 1913, when it was thoroughly discussed, and the way cleared to a truer conception of the many problems interwoven with it. The matter was however considered of suffi- cient importance to warrant further discussion this year, and an informal meeting was convened by the Hon. Member Mr. Claude Hill, on the 4th and 5th February at Pusa, immediately before the meeting of the Board of Agriculture.

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