YOUNG FARMERS’ CLUBS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20899, 1 December 1937, Page 3

YOUNG FARMERS’ CLUBS

GROWTH OF MOVEMENT “The Young Farmers’ Club movement, which has been in operation since 1932 and has extended from year to year, has received considerable attention during the year,” states the annual report of the Department of Agriculture. “Towards the end of the winter of 1936 the movement was reorganised and district organisation of the movement was placed in the hands of the Fields Division. An officer of the division was appointed organising secretary for the Dominion, his headquarters being at Wellington. At the time the organisation was taken over by the Department there were 86 clubs in operation—s 9 in the South Island and 27 in the North. Since that time considerable progress has been made, and, while a few of the spialler clubs in isolated districts have gone out of existence, 45 new clubs have been formed—ll in the South Island and 34 in the North Island. “At the time of writing the number of clubs functioning throughout the Dominion is 122, being made up of 60 clubs in the South Island and 62 in the North Island. The total membership of all clubs is approximately three thousand. There is still room for considerable expansion, particularly in the North Island, but one of the difficulties to be faced is that the staff of the division has its hands so full with a multitude of duties that it is unable to put into the Young Farmers’ Club movement as much attention to organising the movement as could be desired. As it is at present, all instructors in whose districts the clubs are a feature have to devote a considerable amount of their own private time in the evenings to attending meetings and giving lectures.

“The value of the Young Farmers’ Club movement is fully recognised, and every effort will be made to increase not only the number of clubs, but the number of club members as staff becomes available, which will enable the present large districts to be subdivided. “A feature of the Young Farmers’ Club movement is the holding of educational weeks and also tours through districts new to club members. These educational weeks and tours can undoubtedly be of great value, and the results so far obtained have warranted th eenthusiasm and work put into the organising of such functions.”