EMPIRE EXHIBITION.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3134, 11 September 1922, Page 7

EMPIRE EXHIBITION.

The question of sending a contingent of young New Zealanders to view the British Empire Exhibition in London, in 1924, was dealt with by Major E. A. Belcher, C.8.E., the assistant general manager and head of the mision that is visiting New Zealand in connection with the exhibition, at the Orphans' Club (Auckland). Major Belcher suggested that the Orphans' Club might give a lead to the rest of New Zealand in an enterprise which he thought would have to be arranged privately and not by the Government. In the case of Australia this suggestion had been taken up with a good deal of enthusiasm by the Young Australia League, and he had good reason to suppose that an Australian contingent organised by the League, but under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence so far as equipment and discipline is concerned might be forthcoming. The most that New Zealand would be asked to consider would be the sending home of a contingent of older schoolboys, and he thought that to get the best results at a reasonable cost and under organisation which was practicable one must confine attention to boys between the ages of 16 and 18i, who had already given some promise of becoming future leaders of Dominion thought, commerce and politics. rally speaking the type of boy providing the most promising material was one possessing in an undeveloped stage the qualities which the late Cecil Bhodes had in mind in his great educational endowment. The selected boys must be drawn both from State and endowed schools, and the claims of candidates within the proscribed age, who had already left school must not be ignored. In default of any better or special hoard of selectors, the board of selection for the Bhodes scholarship might prove the most effective organisation. The suggested contingent would not be in any way a military enterprise, but the senior cadet system was the only comprehensive organisation which could adequately handle the problem. It would, therefore, be necessary 7 for the contingent to proceed to England and return from England under arrangements organised and controlled by the Defence forces. If the contingent remained in England for six months the total cost per head need not exceed £IOO from an Australian port back to the Australian port, but to allow a margin for con-i tingencies it was assumed that calculations had to be based on an anticipated expenditure of £l5O per head. It was suggested that the Government should bear the cost of transport and that the balance should be found from the parents or private sources. The principal English Universities would be asked to provide panel lecturers, and during the August school holiday it was hoped to provide the requisite number of hostesses who would invite two Dominion boys to spend a month's holiday with their own sons of the same age. A similar scheme for girls would be of great benefit, but the difficulties arc rather greater and financial considerations might render it impracticable.