FARM TRAINING EX-SOLDIER TRAINEES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 106, 6 May 1944, Page 8

FARM TRAINING EX-SOLDIER TRAINEES

DISCONTENT AT MASSEY (By G.A.P.) The first class of farm trainees under the rehabilitation scheme is at present undergoing a course at Massey Agricultural College, Palmerston North. The course lasts 2S weeks, and there are nearly 30 exservicemen students. They are all intensely grateful for the splendid treatment they are receiving so far as their studies are concerned and also in regard to their living conditions. "Everything is kapai" was the verdict of one of the budding men of the land.

That was in so rar as tuition and conditions at the college were concerned, but there has been a deep, dissatisfaction regarding the treatment meted out to the men in regard to their pay and allowances. According to the men. they were to receive £5 5/ a week if married and £3 3/ if single, their board, estimated at 30/, being paid. What happened was that thev were paid the £5 5/ and £3 3/ respectively, but their boarding allowance of 30/ was deducted from their pay.

For married men this was a severe blow. Some have children, and with their 30/ deduction for board at the college thev found that their wives and families "on the remainder of their pay were having to live far below the bread line. One "student worked it out that after the deduction of 30/ and a similar amount for the rent of his home, and after paving for the bare necessities of food lor his family, the handsome sum of 16/ was left to meet outlay for clothes and suchlike essentials. The men consider that they should be paid family allowance when away from home, as is done in the case of trade trainees under rehabilitation, and they made their wants known to the rehabilitation authorities.

The result was that Colonel Baker, Director of Rehabilitation, visited the college, and it took him from mid-fore-noon till nearly 5 p.m. dealing with the questions raised by the trainees. The exchange of opinions—and there was no mincing of words on either side—resulted in married men getting a "rise" of 5/ and single men 7/6. The men are very dissatisfied, and appear to have a just grievance. It will be regrettable if the Rehabilitation Department, by niggardly treatment, wrecks one of the best and most promising schemes for resettling the men of our fighting forces.

In another connection the authorities are also endangering the success of the scheme. It has been stated, if memory serves, by the Prime Minister, that preliminary training on an approved farm would be undergone by prospective farmers before being sent to the college course at Massey or Lincoln. This procedure was strongly recommended also by the professorial staff at Massey. It appears, however, that this wise provision lias not been adhered to, and that there are amongst the present trainees at the Palmerston North institution men who have never worked on a farm, whose adaptability has never been tested by work on a farm, and who are being taught the theoretical portion without any experience whatever of the practical side of work on the land.

History has shown that there are men who have considered they would like to be farmers, but who have been proved after practical experience unsuited to the life on the land, while again there are some who think they would like to be farmers but who, after actual experience, come to the conclusion there are other means of earning a livelihood that they would prefer. It seems to be starting at the wrong end to send a man to an agricultural college who has not tested himself, and been tested by others, as to his suitability or liking for the life. The rehabilitation authorities are not justified in taking such risks.