NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1932. BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ CLUBS

Northern Advocate, 20 December 1932, Page 4

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1932. BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ CLUBS

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper.

The “Northern Advocate” has urged, on more than one occasion, the advisability of supporting Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs as a means of encouraging among young people in the country a love of animals and a knowledge of their care. This movement has made good headway in Taranaki, where annual field days, held by the clubs, are proving most successful. The “Taranaki Herald,” referring to one held last week, says that those present could not fail to have been struck by the condition of the calves and the

evident care that had been bestowed on them. The quality of the animals was far better than it used to be, and one observer said that the worst of the 50 or 60 calves shoivn would have gained the championship five or six years ago. It is interesting to find from the following letter, which appeared recently in the London “Observer,” that .English schools are just as keen as those in New Zealand about encouraging an interest in farming. The writer says: “As for the rural elementary school, only the other day I took part in the ceremony of presenting to a litttle school of fifty-five children, with three teachers, the challenge shield given .years ago by Lord Bledisloe—now Governor-General of New Zealand —for the best school garden, with which the care of livestock is associated. Accounts of the little school for the last complete year show a net profit of £66 7s. Pigs made a profit of £5 16s. Id., poultry a profit of £45 12s; 9d., and the crops from the garden a profit of £l6 4s. 2d., while the bees lost £1 6s. Out of the profits a bonus of £2O was declared, and shared among the boys and girls who did the work. The children do their own buying and selling, and must perforce be left to perform by themselves, or in the little groups, the multifarious activities of every This training has been going on now for many years. A tradition has been established; its influence pervades the, village life, and sends young experts out to well-paid employment in other parts of the country, and even in the colonies.” Lord Bledisloe had been at work in Gloucestershire before coming to New Zealand. The scheme adopted by the school to which reference has been made, emphasises the need for making the stock pay their way and the value of keeping proper accounts. This is an aspect which should not be lost sight of by New Zealand clubs.