Farm Training for Sons of Seamen

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 143, 18 June 1924, Page 11

Farm Training for Sons of Seamen

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HWAY down the Eangitikei towards its mouth, nine miles from the little old township of Bulls and nearly thirty from Palmerston North, is a beautiful great house. So great it is and so beautiful that to a wayfarer on a lonely road, through a fertile, but apparently thinly settled, country, with few habitations, and those often rather decrepit amid straggling plantations, the first sight of it almost takes the breath away. There it stands, conspicuous across the meadows by the river with fat cattle grazing on the lush herbage, raised on a rounded green terrace like some old Elizabethan mansion in the rich agricultural counties of England. With all its size—and it must be one of the largest private houses in the Dominion—with its long facade and double gables and its wing on a wide angle, like a bird starting its flight, there is something pecularly homely about the place, and the name on the simple gate to the road is homely, too. FLOCK HOUSE. This is Flock House, shortly to be the home of a most interesting and important experiment in practical philanthropy. The name is most appropriate. It suggests at once the source of New Zealand's greatest wealth in her multitudinous flocks of sheep, and the name fits also, because it is from that wealth that the money comes which is to carry out the experiment. During the late war, the sheep-owners of New Zealand were able to get their wool to the market—which was then the Imperial Government —through the courage and endurance of the British sailors, the men of the Navy, and the mariners who manned the merchant fleet, and across perilous seas kept up communication between Britain and the outside world, and helped by their efforts, and often by the sacrifice of their lives, not only to feed and clothe beleaguered Britain and her armies, but also to secure the return to the producers in the oversea Dominions of the prices for their produce. The farmer prospered in the Dominion at this stage, and the sheep-owners, recognising how much they owed to the gallant sailor on the ocean highways then infested with the raider, the submarine, and the mine, decided to show their gratitude in some tangible form. Thus came into being the New Zealand Sheep-owners' Acknowledgment of Debt to British Seamen Fund amounting in the gross to £212,000. The scheme was purely voluntary. Not all the sheep-farmers in the Dominion subscribed to it, but the promoters and supporters of the fund have stood by it through thick and thin, and to-day its beneficent operations have their field, under the control of representative trustees, both in the Old Country and here. About £50,000 has been spent already, mostly in the relief of necessitous case? and in assistance to the dependants of the seamen who lost their lives in the war, or to thoso who had been incapacitated by injuries received or after-effects of service in the merchant marine during the war period. A new departure was introduced in the utilisation of the fund by the decision of the annual meeting of trustees in December last. A paragraph in the annual report of last year states:— "It has throughout been realised by the trustees that the largest field'for the operations of the fund is in England, and that the whole of the meney at the disposal of the trustees could be disbursed there to genuine and deserving cases. At the same time tho trustees are convinced that the desire of the contributors would be, after dealing generously with all cases of seamen in New Zealand who had become disabled during the war and of dependants in New Zealand of seamen who had lost their lives during the war, and after relieving the urgent cases which are brought to the notice of the London Advisory Committee, to utilise the corpus of the fund in a way which would be to the great benefit of the dependants of the gallant seamen of the British

on in New Zealand. They will have all the seasons of the farming year, and ' should get enough experience to enable them to be of practical service in the next stage of their training—that is, as farm hands on approved farms, the contributors to the fund having the first consideration in the allotment of the boys. Should the boys be taking to the farming life satisfactorily—and this,'of course, cannot be expected in. every case, for not all people, as the soldier settlement scheme showed, are adapted to farming—an effort will be made from the fund to give them practical assistance in starting on the land, though there is no intention of buying farms for the boys; funds would not permit of much being done in that direction. The help may take some such form as loans for stocking places and making improvements—the practical aid any man starting farming may want. An interesting feature of the scheme is that the land on which the boys will work is not all first-class improved land. ' Out of the 6000 acres in the Flock Hall Estate nearly 2000 consist of sand dunes along the Eangitikei beach. These afiord an admirable field for afforestation, and this will be one of'the main tasks of the wards of the fund at Flock House. With so much labour available, it is hoped to make considerable progress in this veiy valuable work of reclamation of the dunes, which are not only waste land in themselves, but are also a menace to the fertile tract inland of them, as bitter experience has shown. The whole of this coast is somewhat open to westerly and nor'-westerly winds, tending to sweep the destructive drifts further and further inland. It was off this coast that the Indrabarah went ashore some twelve years ago, and the present writer then crossed the belt of sand dunes—the first to perform that feat—the distance from the road being about four miles to the beach. Afforestation of sand dunes has been recommended by experts for a good many years now, and something has been done by the coastal settlers, particularly by Mr. W. H. Field, M P at Waikanae. The experiment on the Flock House Estate will therefore'be watched with much interest. The planting of shelter belts all along this coast would, no doubt, more than pay for itself in better returns from the land protected from the wind. Practically every branch of farming as it is practised in New Zealand will be covered at Flock House, but the intention is not to make the work experimental, and to that extent possibly unremunerative. The idea is that the place shall pay its way and be continuously improved. The land is well adapted for mixed husbandry, sheep-grazing, cattle-raising, dairying, and cropping, while orchards will bejaid down, and there will be the usual sidelines of pigs and poultry, and such others as circumstances recommend. While not at present a show place, except for the house itself and' its appurtenances, and while the efforts of the trustees are not likely to be specially exerted in that direction, the situation of Flock House and tho labour'available and the necessity for giving the boys a thorough insight into what rural life m the Dominion demands of its devotees—which is a working knowledge of many trades—all will contribute to beautifying an environment so favourable The Rangitikei River is only a little.distance away over the paddocks, and in flood-time actually deposits its fertilising silt on the lower-lying land, while an old arm of the stream, now cut off from the main watercourse, forms a dry bed m summer and a sedgy lake in the winter. This is- directly in front of Flock House, and with comparatively little labour might be converted into a fine permanent stretch of water. Tree-planting all round the estate should result in. valuable shelter and useful timber after a few years. There is ample room for recreation.grounds for the boys to have their games in their leisure from tho work on the farm. One's first thought is that they ought to be able to

Navy and mercantile marine for whom the-money was given, and at the same time be particularly identified with New Zealand sheep-farmers. With this policy in view, the trustees more than a year ago affirmed the principle of devoting a considerable portion of the available funds at their disposal for the purpose of bringing out to New Zealand sons and daughters of seamen who had been killed or had been disabled during the war, and, after preliminary training under the trustees' supervision in the essentials of New Zealand farm work, establishing them with suitable farmers In New Zealand, where they will receive thorough and practical training and friendly and sympathetic surroundings, eventually^ assisting the boys to acquire farms of their own in this country." The principle expressed in the annual report was approved by the annual meeting of trusteees of the fund, and when the opportunity came a suitable property was purchased to carry out the scheme. This was Mr. Lynn H'Kelvie'a place with the magnificent homestead described, and the area was enlarged by buying adjoining land. The.whole forms an ideal home Tor a great experiment in practical philanthropy, likely to benefit not only the sons of the men of the Isiavy and the mercantile marine, but also in the long run the Dominion itself, through the training of useful settlers on the land. Flock House was recently visited by a representative of "The Post," who found preparations in full swing for the reception of the first batch of twenty-five boys, of ages from fifteen to eighteen, wlio are arriving by the Remuera at the end of this month. The run by motor from Palmerston North takes one through one of the very best farming districts in New Zealand, over the rich levels across the Sandon Downs, and along the alluvial flats of the lower Rangitikei to the place itself. The house, with its panelled walls in native woods, is being adapted—though it does not need any radical alteration at all—to accommodate one hundred boys. in all. Dormitories are being fitted up in the bedrooms upstairs, and below "there are various rooms for dining and recreation in keeping with (.he purpose of the institution. This is in no.way to form a sort oF State experimental farm or an agricultural college of the kinds already in existence. The aim is purely practical The boys will sojourn at Flock House for a,year, and in Unit time they wiU. ssii a,.thorough jjiwund^y^ uj ihs business p|j lyarmteg as it jy w.i'ietf

turn out a very fine football team. Incidentally, one should mention that a tall flagstaff- is being erected, and on it will be flown from dawn to dusk every day through the years the flag of the Dominion as a sign that the sheep-farmers of New Zealand will never forget what they owe to the fathers of the boys of Flock House. There are several novel.developments in progress at Flock House. One is the fitting up of the old palatial stables as a bath-house for the boys when they come in from work. Here are a large number of baths and showers, with lockers for the clothes, so that the task of housekeeping in the big house will be rendered easier, as may be readily understood. The house has its own electric- plant and water-supply pumped from deep wells. The farm manager (Mr. J. B. Johnstone) has with him a staff of competent men skilled in the various branches of farming, and the house itself will be under the care of Mrs. Kitcat, the matron, who with Mr. Kitcat will look after the welfare of the Boys. Altogether the boys at Flock House will gain their first experience of New Zealand under most favourable conditions. The experiment, if as successful as it promises to be, is well worthy of extension in similar directions for youths who look to farming as their future career. For the girls it is probable that in the near future an effort will be made by the trustees of the fund to establish a similar institution for the training for colonial life of the orphan daughters of British sailors. , The trustees are well representative of the leaders of the farming and commercial community. The Hon. Edward Newman, the chairman of- the Board of Trustees, is at present absent in England, where he is devoting active attention to the affairs of the fund. Mr. O. S. Watkins, of Wellington, is actingchairman, and Mr. T. R. Lees is managing trustee, with headquarters at Palmerston North. The remainder of the Board consists of the following: Sir Walter Buchanan, and Messrs. Ralph Beetham, H. M. Campbell, J. 0. N. Grigg, .1. Linklater. M.P.. 0. M. Lnkc, Alex. 'Macintosh, G. L. Marshall, James Murray, L O. H. Tripp. and W. G. Jlurld. Mr. E. B. Watson is secretary. The London /vrlvisory Committee consists of Sir James Allen (chairman), Admiral Sir \V. Lcwthcr Grant,-.CJuptnio H. K. GrccnsU-est, Colou.pl Fjtzhevbertj Mrs E A WiUjW^ W d. Mi. jj. jfcUveJuck Wllfiujjk