SCHOOLBOY SETTLERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20154, 15 January 1929, Page 8

SCHOOLBOY SETTLERS.

Thirteen hoys from British public schools are on their way to New Zealand to undertake a course of agricultural education at Waitaki High School, with a guarantee by the headmaster that 011 its conclusion they will be placed with suitable employers for practical training, under his personal supervision. This is manifestly a notable experiment in Empire-building, the progress and the results of which will be watched with interest, though there will not be any doubt of its success in the favourable environment of Waitaki and under the enlightened direction of Mr. Milner. The responsibilities he has undertaken are, however, by 110 means insignificant, as will be realised by all who consider what is involved by the proposal to transplant boys from Britain into New Zealand farming and establish them at least on the way to independence. Mr. Milner would be the first to disclaim that he alone has the vision and the courage to undertake such a trust and the first to offer advice and assistance to others who would be ready to follow his inspiring example. That, it may be presumed, is one of the principal objects of his experiment—to awaken interest in the possibilities of systematic migration of British boys for agricultural occupations in New Zealand. His plan has manifest advantages over the simpler methods of immigration, snior it is based upon responsible guardianship of the young settler until he becomes equipped for and established in the ordinary life of the community. While development of tins plan upon a much larger scale than one school can attempt is greatly to be desired, its inauguration will strengthen (he popular impression that, more is being done in an organised way for the. assistance and encouragement of British boys than for the Dominion's own youth. The principles of Mr. Milner's scheme might be successfully adapted to the recruiting of New Zealand boys to farming. Many of them, and their parents, would welcome sympathetic and experienced guidance in finding suitable employers, in having the right of appeal to a recognised authority for expert advice and for redress of grievances There are no doubt many farmers who would willingly co-operate in such a scheme by undertaking the practical training of boys placed in their charge. The present difficulty is the absence of any effective intermediary between the potential settler and the land. Mr. Milner's admirable experiment, suggests the means by which that difficulty may be solved.