TRAINING LADS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 85, 7 October 1929, Page 9

TRAINING LADS

A LAND COLONY

SALVATION ARMY SCHEME

WORTHY MONUMENT

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 23rd August.

Commissioner J. Allister Smith, international travelling representative of the Salvation Army, who was in New Zealand not long ago on a business visit in connection with that organisation, has been appointed Governor of the Land and Industrial Colony at Hadleigb, Essex, near the mouth of the Thames.

Hadleigh is the well-known centre ■where boys are given instruction in various branches of farming before they ' go to start in life in the Dominions. The estate of something approaching 2000 acres was acquired by the founder of the Army in. 1890, and many people thought it a risky investment. But time has proved the judgment of the farseeing old general to be right, and that of his opponents to be wrong. This colony is indeed a worthy monument to General William Booth. Most of the estate is on high and breezy uplands, where the air is bracing. A wide vjsta embraces the low-lying Canvey Island, in the Thames Estuary, where Habitation was made possible by Dutch settiers many years ago. The colony consists of drained marshes and saltings, meadows, and slopes, arable and pasture lands, orchards and gardens, and Me whole estate is a hive of prosperous fcdustry. A feature of its landscape vispile for many miles is tho ruined Hadleigh Castle, a relic of Plantagenet architecture dating back to the early 13th century. It was built by the Earl of Kent, who was ordered by King John to put out the eyes of Prince Arthur. Dominion visitors, especially those interested in the work of the Salvation Army, might do worse than allot one day to going over this well-equipped, up-to-date, centre of • healthy activity. There is accommodation for 200 boys, each of whom spends about two months m training before leaving the Mother Country, and as one batch goes off another is ready to come in for instruction. And a splendid type of youth he always is by the time he has completed his course in the bracing air of this part of the coast. They are all comfortably housed in dormitories ,on the sunny elopes. ■ PEDIGREE STOCK. _ Various profitable enterprises are carried on under* exports, and all produce finds a ready market. Most of tho output goes to Southend, but some comes up to Covcnt Gardon. For instanco, the dairy is famed for its flue pedigree Lincoln Red Shorthorns. All tho milk, which undergoes the tubereular-froe test, is sold under yearly contract to Southend to a buyer who collects' it. The dairy itself is an up-to-date and hygienic 'modem establishment. The boys are taught milking and butter-making, but butter is not produced in marketable quantities. There seem to be hundreds of pigs in all stages of growth, and as they are all pedigree middlewhite Yorkshires, they are in great demand. Shire horses are bred, sheep also are raised. All crops for this valuable stock are grown on the estate. Notable successes have been gained at agricultural and dairy exhibitions and shows. . THE GLASSHOUSES. < : The nursery is ouo of tho all-the-year-lound show places of the colony. The glasshouses produce profile crops of tomatoes and cucumbers, and, well managed, each glasshouse can produce three crops a year, for. after the tomatoes and cucumbers have had their dual innings, the houses are used to bring on choice chrysanthemums, and arums and geraniums. Scientific experiments are made by the garden officer, who is an expert, with various manures to find out which give the best results. A greenhouse •with 1260 tomato plants will produce three tons—and may produce anything up to five tons. A house of similar size give a; crop of 4000 v cucumbers twioa in;;the season. A few days ago there were to be seen'4s,ooo chrysanthemum .plants, potted and bedded. These will bo put under glass and be ready for Christmas time as soon as the cucumbers are cut. Young flower seedlings by the thousand are in preparatory to next year's requirements. Southend is such a. populous district nowadays that it cau easily absorb most of tho garden and greenhouso output. Asparagus is. also a profitable crop, and then there is the fruit section, too—7o acres carry fruit trees and bushes in great variety. Pruning and spravinc are part of the boys' regime. , Under experienced and well-qualified experta, therefore, the boys should leave Hadleigh with good preparation for life and work abroad. Every week, moroover, they have to attend a lecture delivered by the principal or a lecturer of the staff, of the East Anglican Institute of Agriculture, who goes over from Cnelmsford and gives instruction in all # subjects appertaining to up-to-date agricultural methods.- The lecture hall was previously the Salvation Army building at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley.

. To equip the boys more thoroughly BtiU for life in far-away country districts; instructions are givon in bootmending, rough carpentry, homely cooking, laundry, and in other departments of domesticity which may prove valuable later on; also, there are lectures on health and hygiene. ■ There is still another occupation earned on at Hadleigh-that of brickmakmllii™ Anmal ? utput is aboufc two million, and work is here .availablo for T^ a i ? ay be squeezed out of the w Thia^°- Ul fflarket. thion £h ™gwkZ\n m a" wirc-cut > and they Mo^."/ 00"" theyare *W. Recently, indeed, several orders had to rllrf *f X beOa? SO tUo ln opacity eouia not cope with the demand. IN RETIREMENT. _ There is, of course, tho citadel, and there are various other healthy branches SJ^ 1 activities. For .the disjnct round 13 well peopled. • Further, on the estate, thero are charming cottages which are occupied \L»T 7 °ffi ref- 8 Who have re"tired aft" ;long_ evangelistic aorvice, very often in foreign countries and in trying climates. ■/..*> The position of governor of the colony therefore is no sinecure, but Commissioner Smith and Mrs. Smith .will find life very different after many years in Znluland. The governor has a comfortable house and a nice garden, partly Thf «»"•i 8?' p-artly o£ vegetables, me official installation took place on a recent Sunday. On this occasion Com"uasioner J. Cunningham—who shortly •t'lu lea-ve for New Zealand to succeed Commissioner J. Hay—went down '.specially to conduct the cerennony.