ENGLISH SCHOOLBOYS.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 June 1925, Page 4

ENGLISH SCHOOLBOYS.

THE TARANAKI SCHEME. PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR. COMMITTEE’S REPORT. Following is the report of the Immigration Committee of the Taranaki Chambers of Commerce to be submitted to this evening’s annual meeting: Your committee, in presenting a report of its work, desires first to express its appreciation of the ready assistance given it by the president and other members of the Chamber, also by the Immigration Department (and particularly the under-secretary, Mr. H. D. Thomson) and the whole community, which entered into the spirit of a scheme that was in many respects original and had to be tested by actual experience. It was a fortunate circumstance that the chairman of the committee was visiting England at the time of tho initiation of the scheme, and was thus able to confer with the authorities at Home, and see the boys and their parents, and generally to manifest an oversight over the arrangements for selecting and despatching the boys. In this hp had the ready help of General Sir Andrew Russell and Sir James Allen, both of whom are keen on sending out to the Dominion the fine colonising material such as the English public school boy is. FIFTY BOYS SETTLED. Altogether over 50 boys came out in various ships to New Zealand, and were met on arrival at the ports by members of the committee and escorted to New Plymouth, where local citizens acted as hosts to them until they were despatched to the various farms to which they had been allotted. Before leaving the town they were accorded a public welcome.

'The committee has kept in touch with the boys, also the farmers training them. Without this interest the results would not have been as successful as we confidently feel they have been. If there is one thing more than another which has impressed itsblf upon us it is that immigrants like the English public school boys must be able to consult and be guided by a body of responsible and disinterested men if they are to be successfully merged with New Zealand’s population. Things here are so different from what they have been accustomed to, and it takes time for them to fit in and settle down.

For temperamental or other reasons, several of the boys have applied for transfers to other farms, and these applications have received careful attention, the committee being anxious to consider the interests of the farmers as well as of the boys, and. where thought advisable, the applications have been agreed to. In a few instances the boys have found that they are unsuited to farming life, and they have secured positions in the towns, and are making good. Those on the farms are also making satisfactory headway, some, of course, to a greater extent than others, The committee are quite satisfied with the results. The boys have shown more adaptability than was expected, and are keen upon their work. Most of them come straight from school at Home, and are therefore quite unused to the hard work associated with'colonial farming operations, but they have “stuck it” manfully and shown that they possess grit and perseverance and not a little capacity.

BOYS AT SCHOOL. There has really been no absolute disappointment, for whilst some have found that farming is not their vocation, they are succeeding in other walks ot life, and remain a valued asset to the dominion. The system of giving some of the younger boys who came out here in February a course mainly in agricultural subjects at the High School before going on the land has been attended with striking success. The boys have quickly assimilated the school spirit and partaken of the atmosphere of the Dominion. This process has been greatly facilitated by the principal and his teachers, who have entered wholeheartedly into the work. Our considered judgment is that this is unquestionably” the best way of training the lads from Home in agriculture. They are brought out at the right age, they gain the atmosphere of their adopted cqnsptry in the school, where they soon make friends, they are taken out to the farms where they are given practical demonstrations, they are taught by experts the rudiments of their future work, and they are thus well equipped to start on their subsequent course of training on farms, on completion of which they will be able to take up farming on their own account. So successfully was the whole scheme developing that -towards the end of last year, the committee cabled to Mr. List in London to arrange for the despatch of another batch of 50 boys this year. Most of -them are now on their way here. There will be no difficulty in placing them with good farmers, the applications already being in excess of the number of boys available. FUTURE POLICY. It is for the Chamber to determine whether the committee should arrange for further lots of lads. It may mention that the Immigration Department, which has supported the committee at every point, is much impressed with the success of the Taranaki scheme, which is being taken as a model for the rest of New Zealand, and doubtless later or an endeavour will be made to organise other parts on the same lines as Taranaki.

The committee’s chief desire is to see the boys successfully settled and subsequently able to take up properties of their own. Many will be in this position af-ter the completion of their training period. 'The work naturally occupies a good deal of the time of members of the committee, but this has cheerfully been given because of a recognition of the importance of the work, not only to Taranaki, but to the whole of the Dominion.