The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1885. EDUCATING OUR BOYS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 93, 23 March 1885, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1885. EDUCATING OUR BOYS.

We make no apology for transferring to our leading .columns the following article m ,'eztekso, which appeared m a recent issue. of pur esteemed contemporary the Wfenganni Herald, as it deals -ably and intelligibly with a subject on which we have often previously written, viz., the prapticai education of our youth to fit them for their future, ..In the .world's br^ia^KSeiajpffefattle In the bivbuac of life. We commend the perusal of the article to parents and all interested jn » tlje education otthe rising "generation of boys. Onr contemporary thus deals with this most important,question : —One of the most serious problems of the day m New Zealand is the question, of « What shall we do with our boys ?" There are shoals of boys growing up all over the colony, whose parents are sadly put about to j find employment for them. cer~; tain percentage naturally drift into offices, shops, and other so called I " genteel" occupations', bnt for the' bulk of them there seems but a limited prospeot of finding permanent and lucrative employment, owing to the great apathy shewn by the people; themselves m establishing and sup-; porting local industries. The woollen; mills and clothing factories absorb a number of both sexes m Canterbury and. Otago, as do the boot factories m all the chief cities of the colony ; but there are still large numbers of young people for whom employment is scarce. In a seagirt colony like' this, more of our boys ought "to f 6l- i low the sea, and m a few years be able to occupy the best positions m our mercantile marine ; but somehow young New Zealand does not take to the oalling with anything like the readiness that might naturally be expected. They do not care to " ride the stormy main" nor '* climb the diz«y mast," while they can get a horse to gallop on Our boys are too fond of horses, and the great prevalence of horse racing throughout the colony, is doing a lot of harm in'thus'iwfifeting the rising generation for steady work m less exciting walks of life. If an advertisement for a boy to learn any handicraft trade is inserted m any of the papers, the advertiser is not rushed with eager applicants for the vacancy ; but if one »s wanted m a racing stable there is no lack of aspirants for the billot, all of whom think theui^alves veritable Archers m embroyo, and fancy nil that is wautid w> prove them so, isajockcVs costume, and a mount m ant approaching race, Boys, to ride or drive hor-

ses, can be got by dozens m every town throughout the colony, but there is no snch rush for other kinds of employment. There are hundreds of youths growing up m Wanganui, who are learning no trade, nor m auy way fitting themselves for a useful career, who will simply grow up to mail's estate to fiija themselves unfitted for ■any, but the most simple and menial of occupations, mere labourers m fact, where bone and muscle will be their only stock m trade, and their life one long struggle with poverty and hard work. As these boys are getting state education, they will be so far enlightened as to be thoroughly discontented with their hard lot m life, aud many of them will, without doubt, live on tKeir wits, and be a source of constant expense and annoyance to the rest of the population. In a colony like this, largely dependent on th o cultivation o: its toil, it would naturally be expected that a fair percentage- of the *'outh.<if it were learning the business of skilful farming ; but we know such is not the case, and that there is no rising generation of young farmers growing up learned m the requirement of the soil and climate of the different portions of 'the- agricultural districts of the oolony. With the exception of the •Agricultural College at Lincoln, m Canterbury, we know of no school of fariniug m the colony to which a youth can be sent and thoroughly instructed m all that pertains to the requirements of a skilfully and scientifically conducted farm, on which practice and theory are happily blended, and the best results secured at the lowest cost. At present through unskilful, unscientific farming, tho soil of the oolony is nob producing nor .supporting a tithe of the natural product and population it is capable of, under a better system; and it is the general cry that agriculture does not pay, and that sheep and cattle are the only things that can be made to return profit. Slwep and cattle give but little employment to the people, and occupy land that ought to lie growing food for a much larger population thun New Zealand boasts of tit present; but what is the use of bringing this increased population into the country ifthore are no home industries! to absorb them 1 We do not want the country overrun with labourers, seeking work they cannot get, nor a fast increasing number of youths grojying up m our midxt for whom theie is no opening, except as hewers o£ wood and drawers of water. We want a busy industrious population profitably employed m the production and manufacture of nearly every article we consume, but which wenow import and have to send money out of the couutrv to pay for. We cannnot prosper as a colony if this is not speedily altered, and it looks very like as though nothing but adversity and hard times would drive the people of New Zealand into occupations they ought to have loug since established and made available to the fast growing rising generation, so that the question of " What shall we do with our boys" crtulil be readily and satisfactorily answered, and the parent** advised to send them to learn a useful trade or art, instead of being allowed to grow up, as is too frequently, the case at present, unfitted for for any but the simplest, of any of occupations, or, m plain words, laborers. Of course 'we know tli'ere must be laborer.*, but it is equally true there must be skilled directors of their work, aud it is as the latter we want to see the- intelligent and fairly educated youth of New Zealand employed m years to come. To bring about this result, r,he people must bestir themselves, and 3<tablisb manufactures and local m. lustries for the production of most of ihe every day requirements we are now iependent on foreign markets for,aud which we' ought to produce m the eoiouy and have the profit on.