A WAY OUT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 533, 19 June 1909, Page 12

A WAY OUT.

BRITISH SCHOOLS FOR COLONISTS*

' (By tie Rov. B. L. Gwyraoa, ol Tunbridga, • WeKs, Kent.) ' Tho chief , difGeuity to-day m social Eng< land is tho steady annual iccroaso of the miemployed. A •woll-lnfonnod man wrote two months ago from London "l/hat of tho two perils,' unemployment, in tho opinion of afl obseirvore,' is groator than that of invasion." With a great army of seven hundred thousand workless men marching and counter-,, marching through, tlio great towns, wiui_4o\ per. cent, of the mechanics and building tradesmen in tbo small towns out of work for oigH months in tiho year, tho aspect has , darkened and bodoine intolerable. _ V. Tho Poor Law Obmmisaion was a sonooa attempt to get at* the root of this sooial. disease.. In that great volume of, export rosoarch tlioro; are two clear issues. first is that our primary ednoatioe » largely, : to blame far our preafflt condition; and fiat careful oolonißaiion Is' ottfl of the best' and. Bure&t remedies. .. Wilii 1 those: two propositions all ; thinkers in England are in fnll nprcomcmi. , Tariff reform, Labour organisations, and 00-oporat/ivo, companies moy all do Gomotliing to bettor tho stato of Great Bri-, tain, but tho root evil- is the poor preparatioa ,givm to the British boy for nte work in life.: He has a purely literary schooling Up to 14, is turned out to ornuid running, ,nov«r ho» tlio clvanco of learning a trade, and bo finds himself too often at tha age of 18 of 19 in the ranks of unskilled labour. ' ■ To prepare a fair number of reepoctaM* British'lads—-6ons of the. yeoman.., labourer, and work ton tine land (m , Britains overseas ia the object of my mission hero. For one year after 14 wo' propose to bring the lads to a ftm school cither ift under colonial trtanagwneat, or ia the m specially suited farms. Tlio groat industrial classes of Gtoftt Britain look to ttiooTOrsca. Dominion- to supply their food; Britishers! must Come firth from tic; littlo islands in Europe to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and supply in evor-mfcMASrng » volume bToad; medt, and fruit for the tolling i massos at Homo. This; movement has beta tomtnoaeod in

K«it /by & VrAnatary nfiaociitbftti of lwßitted people (including Sdhlo feared ewofolits). TM • Work 'of - this &SS6oiation has httJierto bWh , the fcotldihg, forth of HVpU table hfiefflpJoj'ed to Canada ami Ansttalia by & system ef loans. No chanty is asked or granted, but the faro is lent for two years, alii, the itidopondwiro of the colonist is assured.- All ' ofSeMs.ore honorary, while tlio ttWo bUmncss of examination of candidates and find. in» them posts is purcJy voluntary. Some 600 hav'o niroftdy boen Frtit by ntfoas of a floating capital (subscribed by tih& committeo and their friends) of about £S6O, •It is'now proposedto'enlarge tJiiswcrrkin ■ Kefiitdfid extoiid.it ttossibly to ovety bounty, by establishing reffulitf schools ,of land lata ■ • out fof lads who iitond going; to the botol- .'V .. ios. New' Zealand hardly wt»nte m ova 1 80 who cannot adapt: thoinselveivto busk and farm life, hut there may well bo ample noom. ; hero'for British lads trained to tiio .una.', craft arid wilting to ro forth as ft second". atmy ef piotioers to buns into use the gioai and Heh lands now uncultivated or wiJy p&ftiaily Ullod. ,' . i With tliis object in view, at Howe, l<am eommiwionM, to taqulro ih New Zealand—• (1) \Vhat opening exists for British .lad* \ri(!ltoiit/ capital,, but partially trained, n»id . V at iui age of adaptability P ' (2) Whether the Government have a fatm ' hora upon which 6flch immifttant® could contiiiite tit complete tiheif training f " . . . (3) How far the Dominion would rocograse this Work in lSogla&d as deserving of oaMttVagomcflt. . ■ ■'' It id well to point oat that npec a lair» , ineKsSso of the agricultural population oa- ■ pendA' largely ■ the, progressive wefl-boing of i the industrial elaasbs... EvWy - good Übbniifer going forth cquipped;to tho kndmctMW a real . increase of wenlwi to tbo Dornmion.w weH as a new potential taJtwyer. IVe plan heroin commended to the public is : simple, has. no money. eensMertlieni'i brings' some;''of Eng- , land's build'lipitli'e Btmk> ■■ tare of nftWtm«}ity^ad' r etiribti<»' i ;tiie \ tor State i\v?itle ,at. tlMi' roliennir . the Motherland. '/'V '-.V ■ The time/seems ripe for a thoroupfli ex.' Animation- of onr- methods of kwninratioo, • i Mhny and'terrible have been rntr wistnkra, by whioh ought to bo learning;:. The fortx ■ going eilSEostlwiß have been triost cordially' in Australia by the Ministries, fhA press, <uid, to,judge by col-rwnoiidenee, by tlio public. If Great Britain will train some of . hor .too nnniewus lads fer work: en tlio land, there i/hould be no ; 'laek of fnefgy on' the part of Britain, in pte'jM.riflg tJhe ~ way end welcoming n Scooud nTmy of pioficefrs H'ho s(hall irtrwvsx!,/tho population, and thus en-rich the States. " . ■