BOYS' AGRICULTURAL CLUBS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 225, 17 June 1920, Page 3

BOYS' AGRICULTURAL CLUBS

PETITION TO PARLIAMENT. "An an important, easy means of assuring a fall, scientific use of JTew Zealand's great areas of land, undeveloped or only partially, doveloped, it is necei■sary to establish and foster agricultural clnbs for boys anl. girls 'throughout the Dominion," is tho lieynote of a petition which Mr. W. Stuart Wilson has decided to present to Parliament in tho hope that this movement will be assisted by a grant of at least £10,000. The petition stresses the fact that an intelligent helping of the rising generation in the science and art of agriculture will increase immensely the wealth of tho coun. try and will thus automatically give relief to thousands of people who complain about the cost of living. It is also remarked that if the club movement is pushed vigorously throughout the British Empire the prosperity and Bafety of the Empire as a whole will be as" sured by the development of a sturdy yeomanry and solid citizenship with a proper sense of responsibility in regaTd to national defence. In this promotion of agricultural clubs for boyß and girls Great Britain and the Dominions (except . Canada) lag sadly, behind the United States where the movement has the Bapport of all classes of tho community. Mr. Wilson mentions that already the principle of tho clubs hue been warmly, approved by representative men throughout the Dominion, and therefore, if Parliament agrees to give substantial help, it will be acting in accordance with the wish of thousands of Now Zealand's most thoughtful citizens.