JUNIOR IMMIGRATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19015, 10 November 1923, Page 17

JUNIOR IMMIGRATION.

FARMERS’ UNION EXPERIMENT. WORKING OF AUSTRALIAN SCHEME. As the Fanners’ Union has decided to bring out. 100 English hoy immigrants as an experiment, some details ot similar schemes in operation in Australia should prove interesting. Colonel J. Tow, dominion secretary of the Now Zealand Farmers’ Union, inis just received reports as to the working of the Harwell scheme in South Australia, and the Dreadnought scheme n New South Wales. THE HARWELL SCHEME. Giving particulars of the South . Australian, .scheme, the secretary of-that .'State writes: —The procedure is to invito applications from primary producers for the services of these hoys who arc brought out from Great Britain in batches of (30 at; monthly intervals. Conliilennal inohirics are made concerning each applicant for a lad, and unless the report is considered satisfactory the application is not entertained. The actual selection of the lads is left to the immigration authorities in London, and the typo of hoy they are sending is a good one. "When a contingent arrives, the lads are accommodated at a Government immigration hostel in Adelaide pending despatch to their new home. As all applicants who are to receive boys from, a particular hatch have 'been previously notified, the lads, leave the hostel promptly, and the whole of thetu are generally iaway within a few davs of arrival. Up to the present, 1005 boys have arrived, and all have been apprenticed to primary, producers in Ihe Stale. Reports received from employers and the lads go to show that the majority of the apprentices are making good. Nearly 800 of them arc still with their original employers, and of those who have for various reasons had to he transferred only a very small percentage is proving unsatisfactory. T*.nilish hoy welfare committees have been established in most of the districts to which the hoys have been sent, and (hose lake a kindly interest in them, and assist the department, in cases of complaint arising cither on the part of (be boys or the employers. The local district councils are asked to assist whore welfare committees have not been formed. .The "various denominations, the Y.M.G.A., Hoys heouts. Association. and other kindred bodies are yl-o helping on the scheme to the best of (heir ability. The insncelors of I lie j, al) d.s and Survey Department and the police officers throughout, the State exercise a general supervision over the lads, and report immediately any breach of the agreement on the part of either f.umei 01 apprentice. Under (he Smith Australian scheme, the minimum wage to ho r.aid has been fixed at rates varying with the age of the boy viz boys of 15 and 16 years increasing from 10s to 17s 6d with length of service; Vinvs 16 and 17 vears. I?* 6d to 20s; bovs 17'and-18 years. 15s lo_ S7s 6d. Any article of clothing required is paid for by the Government, and charged to (lie-boy s account at the Treasury. Eaeli boy is paid 4s per week as pocket-money, and (ho remainder of his earnings is paid bv the'■employer to the Immigration Department, placed to the lad’s credit in the Slate Treasury and retained there at 4j per cent, interest until he is 21 vears of age, when the n mount will To paid io him. Kach boy, nml-'r the joint commonwealth and State scheme, will pay £22 for his passage, hut only £lO of this will be required before he leaves London, and the. balance, may remain ou loan free of interest, THE, DREADNOUGHT SCHEME. The Dreadnought which is in operation in New South "W idea, owes its name to the fact that a certaiu amount 'of money raised by patriotic citilens in the Stute iowards the building of a dreadnought battleship for Australia was diverted to assist British boys to become farmers in New South IVales. Reporting upon the scheme, the Director of Labour Exchanges and Immigration Branch states that £6 of the passage money is paid by the trustees and £5 is made available to meet the cost of training. Some of the boys arc training at fa'ins under' the control of the Department of Agriculture., whore they .have the 'privilege of remaining in residence for six months, whilst the others are looked after at (he Government training farm at Sche.yville. where the training extends over three months only. During these periods the boys are given a- practical insight into the general work on a farm, being taught, to milk, plough, ride, driy,o>./,use,. ,gn ; .ax<j;D,-? l h4 perform «imilar=<kitie-S'^udlr'Aisfl^Rlirialkb them useful to a farmer. As a mfej at the: completion of their training, the lads are pro. vided with situations whore .they receive £1 a week ainl their keep.