A VALUABLE ENDOWMENT

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 101, 23 January 1943, Page 4

A VALUABLE ENDOWMENT

If the “Tutira” estate in Hawke’s Bay, which in accordance with the wishes of the late Mr. W. H. Guthrie-Smith, his daughter Mrs J. Archer Absolom, has dedicated to the people of New Zealand, can be used for the establishment of a Fairbridge Farm School then it. will constitute an endowment of beauty and value to the Dominion. 1 hesc schools, first established with wonderful success in Canada and later in Australia, have been instrumental in training thousands of young people from Great Britain for a life on the land. There are several hundreds of them serving in the forces today. There are Fairbridge schools in three Australian States, and just before the war the Adelaide Chamber of Commerce. was planning to have one established in South Australia. The first, in Western Australia, now has a record covering 25 years and the app ications for the boys trained there have been ten times the number available. A school of this kind would be of value to the Dominion, for it would serve to bring to the land young people from the-Mother Country and to train them in surroundings where they could learn to appreciate the work and the vision of the man who developed the estate. It would be more than a gesture for it would represent an investment if the Government were to waive whatever claim it has to death duties on the estate that constitute a liability of the trust. Other Governments have encouraged the establishment of Fairbridge schools, and the wiping off of this claim would be a practical indication of the interest of our Government and of its desire to help. As it continues to serve as a training centre for the young people the work of improving and beautifying the place can proceed, and m time the proposed pai < may offer many people an opportunity to enjoy a holiday in the open air. The whole conception is a worthy one and it is to be hoped that it will develop steadily.