NEW ZEALAND BOYS INVITED TO TOUR U.S.A. AND CANADA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3847, 20 September 1928, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND BOYS INVITED TO TOUR U.S.A. AND CANADA.

A proposal of interest to New Zealand parents has been launched by an organisation in Australia known as the Young Australia League. One of the League’s objects is education by travel, and about every three years groups of boys are formed to tour overseas. About two months ago the League decided that the itinerary for their next tour would embrace United States and Canada, and that arrangements would be made to include a quota of 30 New Zealand boys in the contingent. A request was made in Australia for applications for 100 boys from the Commonwealth, and within a few weeks the full number of vacancies had been applied for. In planning to include a group of New Zealand boys, the League feels that it is helping to keep alive the spirit of Anzac which was created during the war. It is realised that when the contingent travels through the United States and Canada, there will be many receptions by big organisations, and such receptions will be given in memory of the glorious achievements of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the world war. The League feels therefore that a quota of New Zealand boys should be included. Hitherto the work of the League has been confined to Australian boys, and by including a group of New Zealanders the League will realise the long cherished dream of extending the ideas of the organisation tp other parts of the empire. Boys travelling from New Zealand and Australia in the same contingent throughout Canada will be an event of Imperial significance, and the comradeship which would be developed between the boys of the two Dominions would be a sign to the world that the friendship of the Dominion and the Commonwealth had been strengthened as a result of the joint sacrifices made at Gallipoli during the world war. The proposal is for the boys to leave Wellington on December*3lst, and, after calling at Raratonga and Tahiti, the first long stop will be San Francisco. The itinerary will be shaped approximately as follows :

San Francisco to Los Angeles, with subsidiary trips to Pasadena, Long Beach and other California points, thence to Grand Canon of Arizona, to El Paso (New Mexico), on to San Antonio and New Orleans; to Birmingham, taking in Atlanta, Charlotte, Richmond and Washington, D.C. ( the Canberra of the United. States). After Washington, New York; thence to Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa (the Dominion capital), on to Toronto, down to Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago. From Chicago, Canadian territory would be again traversed, taking in the points between Winnipeg, Banff and Vancouver. The tour is open to boys throughout New Zealand between the ages of 14 years and 17 years, and the total cost of the tour for New Zealand boys is £lB5, which includes fares, . travelling expenses, laundry, and all other contingencies. The tour will be under the personal direction of the Founder and Hon. Director of the League, Mr. J. J. Simons, who has led the three overseas tours, and who has at different times been at the head of boys’ touring parties embracing in all 7,000 boys. Applications for full details in connection with the proposal may be sent to Mr. John Tucker care of the officers of the Union Steamship Co., of New Zealand, at Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin, and Christchurch. In order to give parents an opportunity to talking over the proposal, an officer of the League, Mr. John Tucker, will make a tour through the North and South Islands during October and November. He will arrive at Wellington on September 25th. The League is anxious that the New Zealand quota should keep their own national identity throughout the tour, and for that l-eason the compa'ny from the Dominion will carry the New Zealand flag at the head of their section on all official parades, whilst the emblem on the uniforms will be the fern leaf of New Zealand, instead of the kangaroo as will be worn by the Australian boys.