THE YOUNG NEW ZEALANDER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 864, 9 July 1910, Page 4

THE YOUNG NEW ZEALANDER.

IS HE MOLLYCODDLED ? According to several members who spoko in tlie House of Representatives yesterday on the boy immigration question, the young New Zealander is too fond of being pampered, and much prefers> the comforts of town , life to the healthier if more strenuous conditions which obtain in the country districts. ' Mr. Buchanan OVairhrapa) said that because a country lad had not the advantages which a town afforded, it did not at all follow that he was less happy. For himself, he thought that the town boys were much worse in many respects than the lads who were brought up in the country. He well remembered when as a young man ho landed in South Australia. For nine months he lived in a tarpaulin tent—and it was not much of a tarpaulin either. What was more, his only companion was a black_ man, and it was only at very rare intervals that he saw any white "But," continued Mr. Buchanan, ''I was never- happier in my life. In addition to the fact that the life was full of adventure, I also had. the satisfaction of knowing that I could stand life in a new country." In conclusion, Mr. Buchanan said that t!he ■young. fellow of to-day,did not seem at all willing to undergo hardships . such as tile early pioneers bad to endure. B. Fisher (Wellington Central) also referred to the same subject; and was also of opinion that there was something wrong with the young i ea ' an( ler in that he did not take kindly to country life. The long lads of t-o-day, said Mr. Fisher, wanted to smoke cigarettes, go to tie picture and frequent /billiard saloons, yiey felt- that they could not settle down in the country because it was too slow. He thought that a remedy could be found if children were taken from the primary schools in the towns and Siven the rest of their education in the country. "If," he added, "Mr. Fowlds could evolve some scheme on these lines ~ not in a month nor in a year, but in his lifetime—it would be the means of making his name immortal in .the eyes of the people who are to follow. 1 "