AUSTRALIAN BOYS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2235, 22 August 1914, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN BOYS

ON A WORLD TOUR. Three years ago a party of forty Australian boys made a tour of the world under a scheme,. planned by Mr. J. J. Simons, of. Perth, West Australia. The principal objects in view were to give tho boys the educational benefits which travel confers, .and to familiarise them to somo extent with the institutions and social and industrial conditions of other countries, and incidentally to advertise Australia. A second tour of the same character has now been arranged by Mr. Simons, and the party of forty boys will on this occasion reach Wellington, en, route fo'r America a'nd Europe, somewhere about the middle of October. The advance agent of tho tour, Mr. E. F. Shacklock, arrived in Wellington on Wednesday, and left for America yesterday. The cost of the tour amounts to something over' £200 for _ each ' boy. ,: Ench L member of the party is required to pro':' vide £70, and the West Australian Government has granted a subsidy 0f.£250. The rest of the money required is to be earned by giving' concerts and entertainments in the different countries visited. Although they are /individually required to furnish £70 towards the expenses of the tour, the boys are not all well-to-do. "In some instances they represent towns which have provided the necessary sum. Owing to the partial dislocation of tho shipping trade, it has not been found possible:on this occasion to arrange an entertainment in Wellington, but the party of boys will visit the principal factories arid other places of interest in the City. ~ \ The war may interfere to some extent with the tour, but it is proposed to proceed in any' ease to America, and afterwards to be guided by circumstances. The tour of three years ago was 111 every ,way highly successful, and the members of the party received flattering attentions in many of tho countries, which- they visited. In -England they were granted an audience by King George, and in America they interviewed President Taf t and ex-President Roosevelt. . .