ON MILITARY LINES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 208, 2 September 1932, Page 5

ON MILITARY LINES.

UNEMPLOYED BOYS. CAMP SCHEME OUTLINED. ADDRESS AT LEYS INSTITUTE, " The Unemployed Boy Problem " was the subject of discussion at last evening's meeting of the Leys Institute Literary and Debating Union. The speaker, Mr. Geo. Bullen, was introduced by Mr. L. Phillips. Mr. Bullen outlined a scheme which he contended would solve the difficulties arising out of the present, army- of unemployed boys a.nd youths. The plan embodied a camp scheme based ■ on military organisation and discipline. Youths of 15 to 24 years would be voluntarily enlisted and, following medical examination and acceptance as worthy of support, would be signed on for a period of five years. Camps would be organised, and Crown lands would be brought into cultivation by the boys' army. Following the collective effort, the land would be divided into separate holdings and the expenses of breaking in would be taken up by individual meinlwrs. With a nominal and increasing rental the land would, in the speaker's Mtiniation, eventually become freehold. The speaker contended that the scheme could be made practicable by the raising of a compulsory internal loan of £5,000,000 bearing 3 per cent interest. The members of the army would be fed, clothed and housed and would receive a wage of 2/0 per week. The speaker stressed tho fact that boys were being ruined for life because of the lack of opportunity existing to-day. By enlisting tho support of the Press and launching a campaign of a similar nature to the Great War enlisting campaigns, the scheme would capture the imagination of the Dominion and would be watched with interest by the nations of tha world. A spirited discussion followed the lecture. The selector announced the Leys Union team to meet Grey Lynn in the Athenaeum Cup contest as Messrs. G. G. Grant, J. Allum and K. L. Slyfield. The union would take the negative in the subject, "That physical force is the ultimate foundation of all. authority." Arrangements were finalised for the next meeting of the union to be held on Thursday, when a company of artists would present scenes from Dickens, embracing numbers from "Oliver Twist."