BOYS’ HOLIDAY CAMP

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 59, 2 December 1933, Page 16

BOYS’ HOLIDAY CAMP

Farm Training Opportunity

TUITION AND RECREATION

Arrangements are now being completed for the agricultural training and holiday camp which is to be held for boys in January. An application has been made to the trustees of the Penrose Farm at Masterton to allow the camp to use the working facilities of the farm during this period with the object of providing boys with ati opportunity of first-hand contact with actual farm conditions, and of encouraging them to take up farm work permanently in the future. As in previous years the committee will have as one of its objects the amelioration of the conditions of boys who are at present unemployed, and who come from homes wbere the breadwinner is on relief or out of work. In addition, this year training opportunities will be made available; to boys who will be leaving school at the end of the year, and may be desirous of taking up work in the country ,soon after the New. Year. It is intended that this training should, point the way to what appears to be one solution to the distressing problem of. juvenile unemployment in the city, and that is in the direction of transferring the interest of city boys to the country. The camp will have excellent holiday features for the boys concerned, but it is emphasised that the agricultural training aspect will-be paramount. The Department of Agriculture has again promised to do what it can to assist in -providing lectures and demonstrations for the boys, while the services of local farmers have also been enlisted. An attractive curriculum of practical farm training work, in which.the boys will actually participate, is now in the course'of preparation. This will include the use, manipulation, and care of tools and implements, hand and machine milking, fencing, horse and team work, sheep work, and visits to nearby farms. An excellent' programme of recreation is being arranged, and the Masterton citizens are being invited to cooperate in the provision of concert parties and various forms of entertainment. The general programme of the camp is being evolved along the lines which will provide the boys with a variety of interest, and at the same time ensure- the maximum of -farm instruction.

Mr. Len. J. Greenberg, general secre-. tary of the Y.M.C.A., will again be in charge of the camp, with Mr. J. A. Duffy as second in charge. Medical officers, instructors and other assistants will also'be appointed. Boys, desiring to enrol for the camp should apvply immediately to the Y.M.C.A., 150 Willis Street. The general secretary of the association will be very pleased to interview parents who desire to consider this training and holiday opportunity for their boys. To qualify for enrolment the boy or_ youth must give some evidence of good character, and a desire to work in' the country in the event' of an opportunity offering. He must be in reasonably good health and have the written consent of parent or guardian. The camp is restricted to : boys and youths under 21 years of age. Parents and boys are notified that the camp is by. no means in the nature of a belief camp; it is carried out by voluntary effort on behalf of the citizens of Wellington,- with a view to assisting parents and boys in the present-cireum-i stances prevailing in the community. Preference will be given to boys in the order of their suitability and date of application. Contributions from citizens who are desirous of supporting this work and of enabling needy boys to go into the camp are invited, and should be forwarded to the Y.M.C.A. direct.