HOKES FOR YOUNG BRITISHERS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 73, 8 March 1911, Page 7

HOKES FOR YOUNG BRITISHERS.

ON THE FARMS OF NEW ZEALAND.

j MR. T. E. SEDGWICK IN HASTINGS.

Mr. T. E. Sedgwick, organiser of the party of fifty boys who arrived from .England by the Athenic four or five weeks ago, gave an address on "Junior Imperial Migration," at St. Matthew’s Hail last evening, under the auspices of the Hastings branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. There was an attendance of about forty people, and Mr. Eustace Lane briefly introduced the speaker.

I In the course of his remarks, Mr. I Sedgwick stated that the number | of people at Home living below the poverty line was 13,000,000, which meant that they had to exist, with | an average family of three children, on 25/- per week. If by any chance it was possible to send these thirteen million paupepo to the colonies the land would still not be overcrowded, and the colonies would be better defended. The sum of £15,000,000 was being spent annually in poor law relief at Home, which was just exactly the amount of expenditure on the navy. The question was often asked why were there so many paupers. The speaker pointed out that there was only a certain amount of work which could provide for a certain unmber of workers. The unemployed were increasing at the rate of one million every years, but there was no increase in the amount of employment. The speaker referred to the depression experienced in New Zealand two years ago, and said that if thq_ Dominion was more thickly settled, there would be no fear of anything in the way of depression, because the population would increase the products of the country. Everything showed that more population was wanted in the colonies. Referring to the batch of lads recently brought out by him, Mr. Sedgwick said they came from a type who knew to work. Two hundred applications had been received for the first 50 boys, and the experiences so far showed that the boys were well satisfied with their positions and the conditions under t he> Were v “ orkin £- Some of the boys were milking 15 cows after only four weeks’ experience, and in one case the employer said *“®t after three weeKs his boy was qble to milk any sixteen cows in the I herd, although without any previous acquaintance with cattle. In the matter of neighbours some of the boys found the conditions better than they were led to believe, and on the stations where the distances were great, the lads were just as well pleased to find that the hours of work were not so long as they expected. In several cases the employers had found that the boys were considerably stronger than what they had expected, and had! raised the wages accordingly from! 5/- to 8/- ,and 10/- per week. From the boy’s point of view he. was thus getting more regular return for his services than he was generally able to demand on the labour market at Home, and he is moreover getting instruction in agricultural work, which was likely to turn them out good settlers. Mr. Sedgwick considered that the experience of the boys would doubtless lead to the.ir female relatives coining out as domestics in the future. There were plenty of girls who were anxious to come out to New Zealand, and they would come if they were brought out. Reverting to the boys, Mr. Sedgwick said that the wages earned was banked by the employers, although the boys kept a book of their own as a record, and when the secretary of labour came round the books were checked. Money could not be taken from the boys’ accounts without the sanction of the secretary of Labour, and this not only was a security for the boys, but provided employers with an indemnity should the boys leave their employment for instance in the middle of a busy season. Mr. Sedg-, wick dealt at length with the con-| titions of living amongst the poor at Home, and the address was illustrated by a number of interesting lantern slides, the lantern being manipulated by Mr. Frank Nelson, of Havelock North.

> On the motion of Mr. C. Masters, ‘ q hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr. Sedgwick for his address.

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