TOWN BOYS FOR FARMS

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1932, Page 7

TOWN BOYS FOR FARMS

SCHEME THOUGHT FEASIBLE

SMITH-ANSELL SUGGESTIONS.

SPECIALISED FARM TRAINING.

“SIDELINES AN ESSENTIAL.” The. feasibility of placing town boys on farms is discussed in the report on boys’ unemployment by Messrs. S. G. Smith, M.P., and A. E. Ansell, M.P., which was released last night for publication. Both men consider the idea is a practical one, providing suitable boys are selected and they are given specialised farm training. Concentration on “side lines” is thought to be essential to the success of the scheme. The committee recommends that where suitable openings are available for town boys they be placed direct on farms, “but,” they add, “the utmost care should be exercised to select only fanners possessed of that sense of responsibility which will establish confidence in the minds of the parents and of the boys. Branches of the Farmers’ Union throughout the Dominion have come forward with offers of assistance in selecting the farms upon which these boys may or should be placed. The local knowledge of these organisations will ensure that boys are placed upon a suitable type of farm with men of good standing who will take a personal, interest in the boys’ welfare. “It should not be considered that when a boy has been placed on a farm the responsibility of the local organisation ceases, and •in certain districts what is termed an . “after care committee” has been constituted. The duties of these committees are such as will reasonably ensure that the boy is properly trained and cared for. In districts where it is not convenient to set up these committees, some public-spirited citizen could be appointed to undertake this work. “As the placing of boys on farms is at present the most promising avenue for employment, important questions arise; e.g., providing efficient training, good homes, and the right kind of supervisory care,” continues the report.' “There is the difficulty that parents are unwilling to let their boys leave home- for fear of unsatisfactory associations in new surroundings.” To overcome this a definite organisation is suggested by the. committee.

SPECIALISED TRAINING.

Attention is also given in the report to the important question of training the sons of farmers whose farms ; are. not sufficiently large under existing conditions and methods to assimilate the boys when school days are over. -The committee is of opinion that it is highly important not to lose these boys to agriculture* at the best tune of their lives, allowing them to drift to the cities. They believe, as the result of their inquiries, that a remedy can be found for minimising this loss to the rural communities. “On many farms the usual side-lines of farming are neglected, perhaps for the want of capital or suitable opportunity for specialised instruction, but we consider that if suitable expert instruction could be provided, the sons of farmers could in a great number of cases be usefully employed .with successful financial results in this way, besides being kept on the land. Included in the term “side-lines” referred to above are the following:. Pigraising, poultry-farming, bee-keeping, heifer calf raising (from tested stock with backing), certified seed raising, orchard development. The farmers’ sons could be given expert or specialised instruction in these side-lines of farming; they could develop and take control of one or more of these sources of production on the parents’ farm and thus prepare themselves for the day when, by thrift and industry, they could acquire a property of their own.” The importance of widening the range of the Dominion’s exportable products is stressed by the committee, which points out that by this means we. can enlarge md secure greater stability of our markets. The scheme suggested is now in practice at Rangiora High-School; In some cases farmers’ economic difficulties have compelled them to withdraw their sons from educational facilities, thus depriving them of agricultural instruction which would have fitted them better for life on a farm. To meet this difficulty one of the High Schools in the South Island receives farmers’ sons for “one day a week training,” and while this scheme can only be of limited application, the report strongly commends it.