SCHOOLBOYS' TOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 302, 21 December 1932, Page 9

SCHOOLBOYS' TOUR.

PARTY FROM ENGLAND.

ARRIVING IN FEBRUARY.

EDUCATION BY TRAVEL.

In the role of advance agent to a party of English schoolboys who are to tour New Zealand in the near future, Captain A. J. Wilson, M.C., arrived at Auckland from London toy the Rangitata this

morning. The schoolboys, numbering about 30, would arrive at Auckland by the Rotorua on February 8, said Captain Wilson. The tour was the tenth of the series organised by the Public School Empire Tour Committee and the party would be the second to visit New Zealand. Other tours had been conducted in Solith Africa, India and Australia. The director of the party would be Colonel N. Charteris, C.M.G., D.5.0., who would have with him Mr. J. Blackie, a master at Bradford College. Among the schools represented in the party would 'be Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Marlborough and Stowe.

"The object of the tour is educational, in the broadest sense of the word," said Captain Wilson. "There can.be no better finishing school for an English schoolboy than a vieit to one of the Dominions. His imagination, outlook and sense of proportion are broadened and he Is brought into direct contact with the realities of Imperial history, geography, politics and economics. Some of the boys may make their homes in New Zealand; others in due course may undertake work in Parliament or some branch of public service at Home. For them the knowledge and experience gained on the tour will be of inestimable advantage, enabling them to approach problems old and new with sympathetic understanding." Boys' Keen Interest. The boys, said Captain Wilson, were looking forward with the keenest interest to meeting the descendants of English people who had come to New Zealand in the early days, for the average English. £üblic schoolboy, re-

garded the adventurous spirit of the pioneers with envious admiration. It was hoped, too, that the people of New Zealand would be glad to welcome the representatives of the English public schools-, whose ages were from 17 to l». It was probable that the party would spend three or four days in Auckland, tout the itinerary, which would include both islands, was not yet finalised. The boys would leave New Zealand for Australia toy the Maunganui during the fourth week in March.

A former officer in the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, Captain Wilson said that it had long .been his ambition to visit New Zealand since first hearing or its beauties from a NewZealand frfend of his family in 1915, when he was still at school. He had been fortunate enough to spend a holiday m Kashmir and had heard it said that only New Zealand -scenery could rival the beauty of Srinagar and the Dal Lake, and the majestic splendour of Mount Nanga Parbat. "Now I ehall fee able to see for myself," he declared.

Hospitality Remembered.

On another matter—the hospitality of I the people of New Zealand—there could be no possible argument, said Captain Wilson. The party that toured the Dominion in 1929 had enjoyed their experience in full and the boys had been overwhelmed with offers of hospitality. "We fully realise that conditions have changed and that we can hardly expect the same amount of hospitality as in 1929 We shall, however, be more than satisfied to eee conditions as are and to have tlie opportunity of making friends with those who are finding conditions hard, ae we are also in lingland. In any case ■Wβ are certain to have the time of our lives and to learn much that will prove of great value to us in the future," finished Captain Wilson.