SEDGWICK'S BOYS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1035, 26 January 1911, Page 5

SEDGWICK'S BOYS.

■'. ARRIVAL IN WELLINGTON. , So much tos been eaid already, in these Columns concerning Mr. Sedgwick s enfcrprise in. fctjnfrfne out to .New Zealand Si party of fifty lads, recruited from the working' classes of Liverpool and .LonUon, with the idea of finding positions ~ if or them in, the 'farming districts Ithronghout .the Dominion, that their arfrival in ■■ Wellington by the Athenic yes- ■ Iterday attracted conaderable public attention. The Hon. Geo. FowlSs Mini* W.for Education) and Mr. E. TregeaT '{Secretary for Labour) , were amongst 'those who welcomed the lads and their conductor to New Zealand., The Mimsfcsr, in the course of a bnef address to ;the boys, spoke .encouragingly of their iu'ture prospects, and eaid that the whole success of this interesting experiment Tested with thfmselves. Mrj . Tregear ialso addressed the lads-. ; ■ It had been arranged by tho Wellington branch of the Chnrch of' England {Emigration Society that the party on its - [arrival should be entertained" at a. (welcome social to. bo hold in tne JTaranaki Street Mission Hall. The late .arrival of the steamer, however, rather iupset this arrangement. However, mi- : imediately tho vessel .was berthed . Mr. fSedewick collected his party and went *C to the Mission Hall, where the boys twere hospitably entertained. During the ievening ifr. Sedgwick escorted detachiments of boys to the office of the Labour. (Department in Ghnznes' Street, and ithere conferred with Mr. Collins (Chief fclerk of the- Department). As a result, rtwehty-eight of the boys were allotted to jra'rious districts in the North Island, and ftrill proceed to their future homes im-, unediatelvi - As the hour was then late it '■was decided to defer.'. the allotment. of. t» the South Island section of ! lhe contingent until, the following day. A representative' of The Dominion ' ihad aii interesting conversation with teoine of , the boys last evening, and 'gathered from. them' that the trip out had iheen.u most though, boy]ike, they were somewhat hypercritical about-the.third-class bill-of.faro upon the (steamer'..'.'However ,'tli'at'inay be, their .physical appearance goes to show'that iat all events they,had plenty to eaj:. ; One of-the',problems Of New Zealand immigration, is th'e.'.'difficulty'; frequently experienced, of turning anything like the •full stream .of, new population iato tho country districts, the tendency being— nnd this is.what has paralysed rural life in England—to congregate in the large ■ centres. This point was put to the boys, but it was ojiite evident that they were eager to get away from the •cities and. live the country life. They had experienced, most of them, the unfileasant restrictions and the dreary, sunsss monotony of factory life in the great metropolitan centres ; of England, and idid not'want to live, that life again. During "a brief conversation with Jilr. Sedgwick last evening, , the interviewer fathered; that the experiment was being watched with, great Interest in England. Tho promoters of the . scheme had been • simply inundated with applications for • membership in the contingent. v