EDUCATION BY TRAVEL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18087, 11 May 1922, Page 9

EDUCATION BY TRAVEL.

SENDING BOYS TO ENGLAND.

NOVEL SCHEME OUTLINED. THE EMPIRE EXHIBITION. [kkom our own correspondent.] SYDNEY. May 3. Travel as a means of education is very largely neglected in Australia, although its broadening influence would bo of vast benefit to tho rising generation of young Australians and to the Commonwealth generally. Under a scheme elaborated by the bead of the British Empire Exhibition Mission, Mr. Belcher, at present in Sydney, a number of Australian youths will, however, be given an opportunity of seeing tho land of their fathers and mothers." Mr. Belcher believes that a closer association between tire peoples of the various parts of tho Empire will be of ultimate and lasting benefit to tho whole of the Empire, and he therefore suggests that the holding of the great exhibition in England in 1924 will furnish an admirable opportunity for enabling a number of Australian youths to obtain a knowledge of the motherland and an education which will better lit them to take their part in the future government and development of the Commonwealth. . The proposal is that a certain number of picked boys between the ages of M and 18 years should be sent from the various Dominions to England While the exhibition is in-progress, the sojourn m Britain to last for six months. H every portion of the Empire took part in the scheme something like 2000 boys at the most impressionable ago, could be B ent, and the mere interminghng of those delegations would bo of considerable value in broadening th* outlook of the rising generation and solidifying tho bond of union between the various parts of tho Krapire, distributed over the seven seas. The British Government would be asked to concentrate tho boys in one great Imperial Camp during the summer months of 1924 and to establish subsidiary camps in different parts of the British Isles, so that, apart from a close study of tile resources of the Empire at the exhibition, and a practical acquaintance with the historic memorials of London, these boys might secure firsthand knowledge of some of the great provincial and industrial centres. No difficulty is anticipated in securing 1000 English hosts and hostesses with boys of similar age, who would each entertain two Dominion friends in their English countryside homes, so that, on their return to their respective Dominions, they would have learned a great deal about the resources of the Empire, and about the widely differing conditions of life within its confines. Mr. Belcher considers that under a scheme of the kind, it would be possible to continue the education of the boys by arranging that they should be accompanied bv a number of specially selected masters, drawn from every type of school, and in this way tho masters also would obtain an experience which would be of advantage to education generally. The boys would be selected from every type of school in the country, and would bo of British parentage. Moreover, they would be boys who had never before visited England. >!o doubt in some cases the expenses of individual boys would be borne by thoir parents, but there must be no class distinction, and the poorest would have equal opportunities with the wealthiest. No difficulty is anticipated in arranging for the expenses of a mission of the kind, with the aid of the various Governments and of the Commonwealth Shipping Line, which would be able to make special arrangements for transport. MrBelcher is confident that in Australia there can be found men of public spirit who would willingly contribute generously to the cost of such a project, and he expresses the hope that a move will be made at an early date to give effect to the proposal.