YOUNG COLONISTS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1951, 7 January 1914, Page 6

YOUNG COLONISTS.

COUNTRY BOYS FROM HOME

GOVERNMENT'S NEW SCHEME.

FIRST SHIPMENT COMING.

Tho Government scheme for encouraging tho immigration to New Zealand of boys brought up to a country life in tho Homo countries bids fair to prove a marked success. These boys aro selected at Home by -tho High Commissioner's staff, and they are. given to understand that they como hero to bo apprenticed to farmers for a term of three years. The allotment of boys to the farmers who liavo contracted to takethem is undertaken by the Government, "and'tlio boys must go where they are placed. Information is collected from tho farmers as to. what .work they will , .require- boys to do, and what class of farming they and tlio Department'allot tho boys to tho berths for which their age-, experience, and physique best fit -them. Farmers, when applying for boys, are required to state

what wages they are willing to pay for the first, second, and third year of apprenticeship, and in fairness those farmers offonng tho best wages will receive tho strongest and most experienced boys., Tim wages of a boy for, the first year will ; bo banked by the farmer en-account of tlio Department of Immigration, with the exception of one shilling per week pocket money, and duo of. the fund so established the fanner is ■repaid tho deposit of £10 which ho is required.to mako when applying for a boy..'.',, ■'-." . . . . The , Government schemo is very much moro popular than the Sedgwick scheme, by which, city boys aro encouraged to come to the colonies to go on the land. Of tho farmers who have mado application for the , first party of boys, only'one in seven declared in favour of city youths, and of those applying for tlio second party not one nas ' aslced for a city boy.< The first lot of 51 boys will.arrive in ''Auckland by the Ayrshire on January •16. The youths vary in age from 15 to 20 years, and every one of them has had farmjng experience. ' Fortyfour of them are from English counties, six are from Ireland, and one from

Scotland. -They have all been applied for, and the farmers to wbom they are going havo contracted to pay them 7s. ' 6d:''por"week, with food and clothing for tho first year, 12s. 6d. for tlio second jcvear, and 17s. Gd. per week for the third. This is about the average wage. Some have offered much more, mostly with a stipulation that the- boys clothe themselves, and others have promised to pay more should the boys prove good Jiands. A second shipment of lads was to havo left England to-day, and nearly Jill the boys in it have been applied for. 'A third party should arrive in June next. ' ' Some of the youths in the Ayrshire party should prove- good, useful colonists. The biggest' "boy" is John Halloran, from County Claro. Ireland. This young giant is 20 years of ago, Gft. '2 in. in height, and 13st. in weight. Several other boys are nearly as tail, and if their descriptions are correct, »ven more sturdy. The smallest boy i,i 35 years of ago, sft. 3iii. in height, and 7st.. 51b. in weight. Tljis little fe'low has been working on a farm in North Devon since he was ten years old. Generally, the lads havo had from two to five years' farming experience, but all Jwe had some useful experionco of farm life. They are coming out under tho .charge of Sergeant-Maior TV. H. Cooper, n man who as a soldier has had experience of cadet instruction.