CORRESPONDENCE

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 19 October 1914, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE

BOYS FOR NEW ZEALAND FARMS

(xo the Editor.) Sir, —The subjoined letter speaks for itsolr, and I would- ask you to give it vie same publicity as that accorded to the discussion in Parliament on the same subject. .Population is what- the Dominion most needs, but its annual net immigration at present does not equal its ioassa by deaths. The- birth-rate would be higher if the women had more heip and were relieved of milking duties, which is effected by boy immigration. THOMAS E. SSDGWICK.

(Enclosure.) 33 Oriental Street, Poplar, E., • August 27, 1914. Dear fenv —According to the report of the discussion in the New Zealand Parliament on July 2, just to hand, the question of boy immigration was again under the consideration of the Jauase, and on Sir William Hall-Jones asking you the number of failures among those I brought out, you replied that the number of successes was 67 out of 50, and added' that yoy would not say the remaining 13 were all failures; "they have not ail gone to the bad, but some of them have." lhe iigures in your Department do not seem to correspond with those of the Department of Labour, who had actual charge of the boys. In giving his evidence before the Dominions Royal Commission on March 10, 1913, the late Secretary of that Department said that "out of 50 some 7 had nob turned out at all satisfactorily. One was sent home; he worked h:s passage back. The other five have not been at all satisfactory, but the whole of the rest have been. . '. On the whole .they have done as well as one could expect of the same number of boys brought up in good families. Their conduct mice they came to New Zealand would compare favourably with that of the average New Zealand boy. This experiment has been a triumphant success." This statement exactly corresponds with that mads by the same gentleman a year^ previously in the annual report for his Department of 1912, in which lie stated that "even had 50 city colonial boys been dealt with in a similar way it is doubtful whether a larger percentage wo-iid have been loyal to their employer-; and to the Department.. ... A rather remarkable

feature in connection with the boys who have been inifavcurably reported on is that they were all ever 18 years." On the conclusion of the three years' apprenticeship, I went through the whole of the files in the Labour Department, and found that 80 per cent, of the boys were still working in the country districts of New Zealand. One had died, .two had gone home, two had gone up to towns, and three had got lost -ight of. As, however, they were all self-supporting, it is difficult to imagine how any of them could be described as having ■'■'gone to the bad." The experience gained in selection, placing and supervision, would enable us now to secure quite -99 per cent, of successes, and I would aslr your Government to carefully consider the question of getting out more boys as soon as possible, in view of the rapidly increasing unemployment at Home on .account of the international disasters and troubles at the present time, and the consequent impending demand for Imperial foodstuffs on the Continent of Europe as well as ift the Old Country. I am unable to understand, why you stated in the debate referred t& that "the class of help wanted by the New Zealand farmer was not necessarily, or even generally, the town-bred boy!" The experience in South Australia with town-&red hoys has been so satisfactory that their Government assist out those for farm work instead of agricultural labourers. The Governments of New. South Wales and Victoria have met with equally gratifying results with the thousands of town boys they have placed on farms in their States. The Dominions RoyaJ Commission, after careful enquiry throughout New Zealand and Australia, stated that the necessary requirements of adaptability and youth were to be found in town rather* than country lads. Further comment is unnecessary. In conclusion, I would point out thaf although all the complaints were of boys over the age of 18. some of the most successful were over that &g&, and it would he quite safe, to allow 10 per cent, of any future parties to "be over that fiqre if properly selected. — Yours faithfully, *