FARMING FOR BOYS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 52, 2 March 1929, Page 12

FARMING FOR BOYS.

A SCHEME OUTLINED. APPRENTICESHIP CONTRACTS. PROPOSED SETTLEMENT GROUP. UNDER EXPERIENCED SUPERVISION. Telegraph—Press Association.) STRATFORD, Friday. Proposals for encouraging boys to go on the land are contained in a report prepared by the Under-Secretary of Labour and the Dominion secretary of the New Zealand Farmers' Union for consideration by the provincial executives of the union. The Dominion president, Mr. \V. J. Poison, M.P., has handed an outline of the report to the Press so that farmers may express opinions' upon it before it is finished by the union. The report states that large numbers of boys in the towns who have recently left school find difficulty in getting employment. It is recommended that the general state of trade and openings for workers in town businesses depend largely on exports of farm produce, for which the market may be regarded as unlimited. It is the intention of tlie Government to provide additional facilities for the development of farming industries, including the settlement of larger numbers of people on the land, and it is desired to encourage employment on farms of as many workers, including boys from school, as possible.

Terms of Contracts. To this end arrangements are proposed by which the Farmers' Union will cooperate with the Labour Department in finding employment on farms for boys and adults. No fees or other charges will be made in this scheme. It is desired to urge on farmers the desirability of taking boys under apprenticeship contracts. Such contracts may be entered into under the amended Master and Apprentice Act of 1920. The. term of apprenticeship shall be as agreed on, say. three years, with an optional probationary period of three months to decide on the apprentice's suitability before the contract becomes binding. The contract shall set out. the branch of farming to be taught, and the wage? to be paid. For the first year, the wages shall be, say. 10/ a week and found. During the remainder of the term the wages shall be those usually paid boys of the age and capacity of the apprentice. Provision is made for arbitration on this point. The contract may provide that the apprentice shall agree that a portion of his wages, say. half, shall be deposited with a Government official and invested to the credit of the apprentice. This would provide the apprentice with part of the amount required if he should desire to acquire a small farm of his own and also ensure compliance with the terms of apprenticeship. The boy would be allowed the usual holidays, including an annual holiday.

Control by Committees. Each provincial executive of the Farmers' Union will appoint two of its members to act on a committee with a repiesentative of the Labour Department. This commitee will deal with all questions relating to the boys in its district, and will endeavour to see that the various conditions of apprenticeship contracts are complied with on both sides. The ultimate objective of this attempt at the absorption of New Zealand bovs is the settlement by them of land, including some of the pumice lands of the thermal districts, some of the gum lands of the Auckland peninsula, and some of the present unsettled land. The Government will be asked to give the group system of settlement a good trial with these boys by putting a group on a suitable block of land. Bovs would work under the direction of an experienced supervisor until the block was selfsupporting. Then the block would be subdivided among the boys who had worked it, and be purchased from the Government under the 36-years' mortgage system at a reasonable price. During the period the boy was working for the Lands Department he would reeei\e 40/ weekly, half to be banked.

Financing the Scheme. The Land s Department will be asked to finance boys to enable them to erect dwellings and fences and purchase stock under the supervision of the Department. It is also proposed to establish farm schools on selected farms under the control of a competent authority, where certain boys will, by arrangement with local larmers work upon farms and become ultimately eligible to take up land under similar conditions.

It is apparent, concludes the report, that some concessions as are outlined above will have to be offered to cnti-e boy s from the cities.