AGRICULTURAL CLUBS

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 99, 17 December 1943, Page 3

AGRICULTURAL CLUBS

Formed for the main purpose of stimulating the interest of children in schools in farming subjects and to provide them with a practical and personal incentive, the Boys' and Girls' Agricultural Club movement has become successful in most country centres throughout New Zealand. This is certainly the case in Ellesmere, where, ever since it was first started' it has had the keen support of practical and high-ly-skilled farmers from all parts of the district, who have consistently backed up the efforts of school committees and teachers to make the club movement a live and worthwhile one for The children. The parents, too, are taking a keen interest in the work and .are encouraging their children in more ways than merely providing them with the facilities and. animals with which to carry out the competitions. This year's projects, with the exception of the flower gardens, which will be judged <%i February, have now been completed and they can, be truly said to mark a stage further on in the development of the initial idea which is the centre of the. movement, and so. far as results gained are concerned, have been a marked success. There may be some who deplore the competitive spirit, but this is not the main thing: the lessons learned from doing the work methodically- and correctly, of aiming at a high standard, and being satisfied with nothing less than their best, are of the greatest value in forming good habits and, industry, which assimilated in their youth and therefore in the most impressionable ,age, will remain with them all their lives and will be of immense benefit in later years. The objective of the clubs is to educate the children in the best care and treatment of animals, to instil in them an interest in farming work which will encourage them to choose that occupation for their livelihood. While this is an objective which should be encouraged in every way, more, much more will have to be done to reverse the drift from the land to the towns. Cutting right through everything else, the problem boils itself down to one of economic and financial reward, not only-to the farmer who is on his own property but for the workers on the farms. The club movement, however useful, it may be, and it is of great value, can only form one link in a process which must be ■developed to a far greater extent than now, to put farming for both employer and employee on a basis in which it can compete on equal terms with industries and employment opportunities presented by the larger towns and cities.