AN EMPIRE PROBLEM.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 80, 6 April 1910, Page 3

AN EMPIRE PROBLEM.

»■ SELECTED YOUTHFUL EMIGRANTS. TRAINING FARMS NECESSARY. INTERVIEW WITH THE REV. R. L. GWYNNK. (From Out Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 25th February. The question of relieving the populous and congested centres m Great Britain by assisted emigration to the overseas Dominion* it rapidly becoming on Imperial problem, one in which the Mother Country and the colonies will have to co-operate if there it to be a satisfactory solution forthcoming. One proposal which is receiving considerable attention at Home just now it to establish training farms in the colonies, to which youths who have ncl much chance of an assured future in this country fan be transferred and trained to agricultural pursuits. The Rev. R. L. Mwynnc. the secseUry of the Central Kmicration board, has this matter in hand, and in an interview with a representative of The Evening Post he asserted that he only withea to semi out the best available boys. Iff had no desire- to touch the London bred boy, and in fact he had refused hundreds of them. So far a* the boya of the big towns wero concerned he thought that Lord Dundonald's scheme was the best, namely that the muniripalitie* must a* quire land in the dominions and senJ out their lads to develop the territory as best they could. THE AGE OF ADAPTABILITY. The Rev. R. L. Gwynno has only recently returned from a lengthy stay in New Zealand, and so his opinion wifl be read with intere&t. "I do not want them," naid Mr. Gwynne, "to nave the low class that may hitherto have gone nut. I want the colonies to have the best that wo have available, the ex-messenger hoy, or the lad who has been given a good education Many public-school boys at the age of fe vert teen or eighteen — boys who in this country have had high-class scholastic advantages — look round and there is nothing much for them to do here. Why not give them the chance of becoming farmers? Why not give them six months' training and a good moral dicipline, and then let them be apprenticed to the f aimers? I take that age because it is the age of adaptability. After that age, if you pitch a town boy into the country ho comes back to the lights. "U would pay the Government, of New Zealand to have a better class of boy than they are having now, to admit them free and give them six months' training. Most of these betterclass boys have a little money. They are not paupers. They are simply the lower-middle class, tho best clnss of England, which has not been tapped yet. "For instance, wo sent out about three weeks ago a Christ's Hospital boy — a. Blnecoat boy as he is best known — seventeen years of age, who will have £100 \rhen he comes of age. We sent him to Australia for a year's good training on a farm there, and that it a case of the lad wo want for New Zealand. A NEW ZEALAND FARM. "In New Zealand I found some excellent training farms. I visited one in the North Island, which, I think, could not be beaten anywhere for discipline and really good training, but it was a kind of home for boys who had been once charged with v minor offence. I went right through the school, and was wonderfully pleased with the way the boys wero taught, and also with the way the amusements were 'ooked after —this latter ia a very important phase of a boy's life. If this could only be turned into a school for better-claw English lads, who were not rich and were not able to pay much- it would be a great source of wealth to tho Dominion in no time. "The Government objection is that it cannot possibly do it on account of the Labour Party. I say, is there not some private individual in New Zealand who will start and nhow the Government the way? Here in England private individuals nearly always show the State the way. But there the State has to do every mortal thing. I spoko to an enormous number of squatters at the clubs, and stayed with ono leading statesman and station-holder, learning from him that what was wanted very much was this particular class of good British lad CASE OF THE SISTER. "Another very important thing is that the English lad sent out now has to go through many years of hard experience before- picking up the peculiar fanning conditions, and he does not as a rule attract his family folk from England. Therein lies the difficulty of the New Zealand Government in getting a good eupply of nice English girj*. "Theee English l«ds of the lowermiddle classes, if properly looked after and cared for, would in a few years attract tneir sisters out. I have one instance : I went to one of our boya in New Zealand and learned from him that his one idea was to make a homo for his two sisters in England. If there *»i a, good farm where Tw conid have D«en trained for six months his g p it would have enabled him by this time to bring his filter* out. As it is, he is still in the wilds battling with terrible difficulties. 1 don't think wo need multiply difficulties for the sako of difficulties We oughi to bo wise and reduce to a minimum the hindrances which now prevent these respectable English lads becoming good citizens of New Zealand. WHAT THE BOARD DESIRES. "The Laboui Party object strongly, but they do not know what we mean. We do not want to send the sweepings of our streets. We want to tend out a much better class of boy, and as the agricultural ride of the country increases it must benefit the townspeople and artisans. Any enrichment of the population is a real increase in the wealth of the artisan, and th<> teal reason why so many people are out of work now in New Zealand is because they have been sent there too late in life, and have never been properly trained for their work upon the land. I am certain any honest critic will uphold my suggestion. "Our *ork is entirely honorary and voluntary. We navo no paid officer* at all. We started at Tunbridge Wells with a Kent Colonising Association. We have faeni about five hundred boya to the British colonies, and now that we have tnis idea of training farms all over the Empire we hope that New Zealand will fall into line. W« want to place at loa^t 200 BiitUh boy? each year on faims in, the Colonies, e-jptjeiaHy* adapted for 'giving them the necessary tzaiin'ng and a good start in colonial life. I have recently lelurned from a \Uit to thcte settlers, and have found none who want to return home. They ure all doing well. The suci-es* of the experiment w^rt tints us in extending onr operations. This has been made possible by the action of the citizens of Sydney, who, while assodating themselves with tho Dreadnought Fund, had an eve to the importance of drufttng young Britishers into the State of New South Wales, and fitting them to b*com» stalwart cotoaiata. Tb« Lord Miyor secured th« content of thi donors

to fct apart £50,000 for tiainin^ farms 'on uhicn respectable Britit-h la<l« of {he artisan and yeoman tin** will be given fre** instruct inn for six o» t\\H\e month* to fit them to become labourers, nnd then owners of tho vat>t tract* of arable land in Now South Walof." Mr. Gwvnne added that if the public Mipnlioft the needful fund* tho Hoard could i*nA out 200 promising yon tin th's year. Most of the applicant* weio from the country. THE LONDON LAD. "It must 1»> frankly f.»i<l," remarked Mr. Gwynno in cone In.- ion. "that at least ten per nuit. of the London npplicant* arc imp«M<ihli* It is tho country lad, <>r the lnd whoM> parent* have drifted to London from the country, who makes the finest material for farm work. Of those lad* whom I have interviewed 5 per cent, can pay their own fares, 44 per cent, can pay part, while 56 per rent, who aio of good physique and character, have no means, at their ditposal. It is to help there latter that wo arc appealing for £20.000. The money will be advanced to the emigrants as a loan, to be repaid a* they succeed in life, and a* an additional fcerurity we shall require a bond from their nearest relatives in Engb.ml. In no case shall we give the money." The office of the board is Cromwell Houte, Surrey *tieet, Strand.