SPORT-LOVING YOUTH

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 810, 2 November 1929, Page 10

SPORT-LOVING YOUTH

DOMINION’S LACK OF FARM WORKERS HON. E. NEWMAN S VIEWS (Special to THB SUN) WELLINGTON, Friday, j Love of sport accounts largely for the reluctance of New Zealand youth to take up farm life. This is the opiuiou of the Hon. p Newman, M.L.C., who today addressed contributors to the New Zealand Sheepowners’ Acknowledgment „[ Debt to British Seamen Fund. Sport was necessary for yount people, said Mr. Newman, but it could be carried too far. Boys from the Old Country seemed better able ( 0 settle down to conditions in the Donii. nion. Many of the English boys had never been on a racecourse in their lives, and they were not taken up with racing, as New Zealand boys seemed to be. He considered the New Zealand boys and girls were the best in the world, but he could not help noticing that the boys and girls sent out from Home were more willing to go into the backblocks. “The whole of the wealth of the country comes from the land,” continued Mr. Newman. “Yet there is a marked disinclination on the part of the New Zealand boy to take up country life. Equally unfortunate is the position as regards the girls. Unless the girls are prepared to go into the country, the boys will not go. The girls, I am informed, are more disinclined to go on the land titan the boys, and will not marry anyone going into the country. “One of the problems today is the difficulty of getting trained farm workers. It seems almost- impossible to get a man not requiring constant supervision. Many parts of the North Island are left undeveloped owing to the scarcity of farm labour. There are indications of the shortage of farm labour everywhere. “Farmers -with valuable stock do not care to let inexperienced boys handle them, but very few farmers in New Zealand have the inclination, and many' have not the temperament* to teach boys farming. We are doing an Important work in training boys for the land, and I think the unions that passed resolutions asking the Government to discourage English boys coming to New Zealand. Floch House boys being included, did not act wisely.”