Background Of Young Farmers’ National Memorial Effort

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 7, 16 December 1947, Page 4

Background Of Young Farmers’ National Memorial Effort

Funds are now being raised throughout the Young Farmers’ Clubs’ organisation in New Zealand to erect a National memorial as a tribute to Y.F.C. members who lost their lives in World War 11. They made a sacrifice for the nation and it is fitting that their memory should be perpetuated by a national memorial to which all units of the Y.F.C. Federation have contributed to the best of their ability. The aim is to collect £20,000 in two years. The Y.F.C. movement is proud that its members played a very definite part in the war. Of its prewar membership of 6,000, more than 3,000 saw active service—nearly 60 per cent of the total membership. Of the remainder some were unable to join up for health reasons; others were appealed fpr and kept behind because of the need for production anw others were under military age. All these young farmers played an important part on the “home front,” and contributed most valuably to the war effort. They, together with the members who have safely returned, will wish to pay their tribut to the memory of the 500 or more of their comrades who laid down their lives in the cause of freedom. \

It was decided at the annual meeting of the Young Farmers’ Club Federation in 1942, when the idea of a Y.F.C. memorial was first mooted, that the principle of a national memorial should be adopted. To be of due significance, and to give full expression to a Dominion-wide movement, it was considered that a combined effort would command greater support and achieve better results than a number of widely dispersed local projects. ' All units of-the Y.F.C. organisation were circularised and asked to submit suggestions and ideas. As these were received they were placed before a special committee for investigation and consideration. The desire generally expressed was in favour of a memorial that would give service to the community as well as commemorate the fallen. Behind most of the ideas put forward lay the broad principle that the memorial should have an educational significance, with an agricultural bias, in keeping with the aims of the Young Farmers’ Club movement.

Many suggestions embodied agricultural scholarships which, though having a definite appeal, were finally rejected for the following reasons:—

The amount of money necessary for investment to provide sufficient revenue for a reasonable number of scholarships would be excessive and the revenue itself might fluctuate. It was considered there would not be a regular demand for full-time scholarships, and it appeared likely that sufficient would be made available from other sources from time to time. In any case such scholarships would benefit the few rather than the many. It was felt that to be of the greatest value the memorial should be such as would give the greatest possible service.

After considering thoroughly all other proposals, the committee investigated the merit of a suggestion to erect memorial buildings at the two agricultural colleges, Lincoln and Massey, to provide facilities for special short courses for Y.F.C. members. The committee, •in its final report to the Y.F.C. Dominion Executive Committee in February, 1946, outlined the. scheme . and recommended that it be adopted" as the most fitting and suitable form of Memorial.