LAND SETTLEMENT SCHEMES FOR BOYS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 194, 18 August 1931, Page 17

LAND SETTLEMENT SCHEMES FOR BOYS.

With due deference of the laudable objects of these schemes for the settlement of our boys on the land, what possible inducement exists to encourage New Zealand boys to take up farming as a vocation? Living ae it were at the very door of an industry they are invited to accept as a livelihood, enables them to observe and study the conditions and environments attached to the work, the grim reality of which has accomplished much to dampen their enthusiasm and modify their youthful conjectures of the glamour of this openair employment. Those who eventually submit themselves to the rigours and sacrifices that present-day farming involves are young and inexperienced, and require, therefore, careful nursing, and their inefficiency tempered with encouragement and helpful criticism, instead of abusing and imposing on their immaturity and condemning their incompetence. And thw is the attitude of many farmers in whose care we are encouraged to place unreservedly the future of our rising generation. Being removed probably for the first time in their lives from the pleasurable comforts and refinement of their homes, they are plunged into uncomfortable conditions, unsatisfactory environments, and long and arduous work of seven days a week. They are expected to relinquish all varieties of sport, and live solely for the purpose of their work, with the minimum of amusement, relaxation and diversion. The paltry wage they receive is in itself a sufficient deterrent against adopting farming m a livelihood, and taken in conjunction with its other unprepossessing and unsatisfactory features, the reasons for the inconclusive results of these settlement scheme are obvious. The most careful and thrifty of boys could never hope to acquire a farm under these conditions, and unless they have unlimited financial backing, they are sacrificing the best years of their manhood in pursuit of an occupation that offers nothing but hard work, little pay, and indefinite prospects. The scheme is at least providing farmers with an abundance of cheap labour, which they utilise and abuse under the guise of assisting the movement. Its expansion must necessarily influence tho wages paid for farm labour to the detriment of those already engaged on the land, and for the benefit of these, eome restriction is necessary in the number of boys approved and the manner of thoir distribution to prospective employers. The supply is already in excess of the demand in" consequence of the absorption of immigration labour, and it is only precipitating further unemployment and jeopardising the positions held by experienced men if the promoters of these settlement schemes are not imbued with some common sense and judgment in handling and popularising the movement. GEORGE JENKINS.