FLOCK HOUSE AND A FARM CAREER

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 153, 26 December 1936, Page 10

FLOCK HOUSE AND A FARM CAREER

All arrangements have been made, | according to an announcement by the Minister of Agriculture (Mr, Lee Martin) on Thursday for the farmtraining establishment of' Flock House, famous throughout the Empire, to be taken over by the Department of Agriculture; from February 1 next, and run as a going concern for the continued training of boys for a career on' the land. In the past Flock House was devoted by the trustees to the training of the sons of British seamen, and then, in recent years, the sons of New Zealand returned soldiers. In the words of the Minister, "the training and maintenance at Flock House will iioav be free to all boys who comply with the requirements of medical fitness, personal character, and a desire for a farming career." The Minister stated that the Government was satisfied that "Flock House and similar organisations run on the soundest lines should be an integral part of the educational system of the Dominion, so that every suitable boy, who desires to make a living on the land, shall be given an opportunity of receiving a thorough grounding in practical and theoretical farm work before entering on employment." This provision should do much to remove the distaste for farming among the younger generation which has held back rural development by lack of recruits for a life on the land. There are a number of excellent institutions in New Zealand for different branches of farm training, and, with the acquisition of Flock House, these shoula be fully co-ordinated to prevent overlapping and to provide a progressive training so that a boy may graduate from the primary school eventually to the ownership and successful working of a' farm of> his own or to a responsible position as manager or ' expert. At its best farm life*in New Zealand is probably unsurpassed in any part of the world. It only needs the rationalisation of training, contemplated by the Government, followed by employ-; ment with good farmers, to make the land one of the most attractive careers the Dominion can offer its youth.