The Daily News FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 1929. FARMING FOR BOYS.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 March 1929, Page 8

The Daily News FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 1929. FARMING FOR BOYS.

The tentative scheme to draw lads from the cities by apprenticing them to farmers and to encourage them to take up land on their own account later on deserves sympathetic consideration. It has been drafted by the secretary of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union in collaboration with the head of the Department of Labour. The c« n n nrs I, „ I- 4-xx 4-l-» z-i

scneme is to be reierrea to tne various branches of the Farmers’ Union, and its development will depend very largely upon the attitude they manifest. An outline of the proposals has been made public by the Dominion president of the union (Mr. W. J. Polson, M.P.) in order that they may be examined fully by the farming community. If the scheme commends itself to farmers the Government will, presumably, be asked to endorse it by introducing the necessary legislation. The main features of the proposals are that the Farmers’ Union will on-

UAJLCCU bixu X’cllULlUrS ULLIVLL Will CUoperate with the Labour Department in finding employment on farms for boys and, possibly also for adults. In practice this will probably mean that the Union will be the sole agency for both employers and prospective apprentices. Terms and conditions of employment, including rates of in flip initial stacp nf nn-

ui me iniuai stage u± apprenticeship, and the question whether there shall be a probationary period in -which to decide on an apprentice’s suitability before his contract becomes binding, will be settled by the agency. The contract will set out the branch or branches of farming to be taught, and may provide that the apprentice agree that a portion of his wages be deposited with a government official and invested to the credit of the apprentice. It is hoped that such

savings may form the nucleus of a fund by which, with assistance from the State, apprentices will, after adequate training, be enabled to establish themselves as independent farmers. If the scheme is found workable the Government is tn hp j-slrpd tn aivn

viu veiuiucuL is lu ue tsKeu io give the group settlement idea a trial with these young farmers. Details of such far-reaching proposals must necessarily be subjected to very careful examination. In that it is a formal recognition that husbandry is highly skilled work necessitating intensive training, just as does any

other trade or profession, the scheme can be generally commended. The fact that they are under contract for a certain definite period may help lads to resist the temptation to drift from farm to farm and generally back to the unskilled town labourer. For the same reason his employer will have more incentive to spend time and trouble in teaching an apprentice. The success of the scheme will depend upon there being sufficient boys willing to leave the attractions of the towns.

. - Vv* VX b-IXV/ IU |UlOj and on the way apprentices are treated on the farms. Much will also depend upon the attitude of the various branches of the Farmers’ Union. If they are really enthusiastic, and willing to co-operate with scholastic institutions and the Labour Depart-

ment in finding suitable openings for youths as they leave school, there should be a good chance of the new employment scheme becoming a real help in the expansion of primary industries, and in arresting the drift to the towns of which so much has been said. If it is used merely as a scheme for getting cheap labour by the employer, or as mere temporary employment by the apprentice, it will fail. On the whole there is

an. originality and breadth of vision in its conception that makes the proposal appear promising. If to practical training there is added the inculcation of thrift, during the period of apprenticeship no better material from which to draw the independent farmers of the future could well be imagined. For such

young men to approach the State tor assistance to supplement the accumulation of their own earnings in order that they may take up land is to give earnest not merely of an honest intention to make the best of any such assistance, but of the capacity to do so.