BOY IMMIGRATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 30, 25 June 1914, Page 4

BOY IMMIGRATION.

The success which attended Mr T. K. Sedgwick's scheme, under which hoys were brought from the Old Country and placed 011 various farms in the Dominion, led that gentleman to take steps for bringing out another batch of 200, and before leaving New Zealand last January, he toured New Zealand to ascertain the fanners' requirements in the different districts so as to ensure places for his youths. In the light of past experience lie was in a far better position to select the right class of lads for farm work, and there is every reason to believe Mr Sedgwick's guarantee that nearly one hundred per cent of the lads would remain on the land was not an optimistic estimate, but one that could be relied on. 11l the first place, his intention was to select from four or live centres, their ages to be as near to sixteen as possible, so that their apprenticeship would last till they were nineteen years of age. They would then have, acquired an experience that would have equipped theiu as useful developers of the primary industries of the Domin-

ion. It ia tliis class which is so greatly needed by the farmers as they are more adaptable to prevailing conditions and should readily grow into the methods of their employers, while the wages paid to the boys—a minimum of ten shillings , a week —would mostly be banked at the i discretion of the Secretary of Labor until the lads came of age, It was only ' natural tlmt Mr Sedgwick should look . to the Government for assistance in this scheme, which a contemporarypoints out "bo fully fits in with the Government'* professed desire to aid by every possible -means in the developing of the Dominion's resources," and as the Liberal Government had done all in its power to make the first party sent out by Mr Sedgwick a success, he confidently expected that his offer to select the immigrants and ship them to New Zealand would have been promptly accepted. Instead of that he met with what is described as a curt refusal from the Minis.tor,'who stated that "no action could be taken until after next session." Well may the expectant farmers ask why such an extraordinary and incomprehensible policy was adopted. According to Mr Sedgwick's estimate, 500 of these lads , could be placed where their services would be of the greatest benefit, yet the Government block the proposal to send 200. An exchange states: "It has been hinted that the Government's action in this matter was the result of advice from the Loudon office, which (so tho rumour goeifßwas irritated at Mr. Sedgwick's success in getting suit- | able "boy emigrants, a task that the Department's officers should have undertaken themselves. Whether this is bo or not, it is necessary that the Government should explain its extraordinary action in obstructing a scheme that has proved advantageous all round." It is not to be wondered at that Mr Sedgwick has voiced his grievance, and that of the farmers who were relying on the services of the lands. In tlie Lyttelton Times, he contrasts the difference in the treatment received from the Liberal Government with that of the Reform Government which poses as the farmer's friend, and our southern contemporary justly says: "It is impossible not to read his letter as a revelation of bungling and incompetence cn the part of the Government. Instead of dealing direct with the Labor Department, Mr Sedgwick has now made terms with the Immigration Department, which has neither the machinery nor the facilities nor the experience necessary for the handling of the particular problem involved. We suppose that the Government wanted to do something different from its predecessors, to show itself more logical, more methodical or businesslike, and it has ended by giving an exasperating display of incompetence." Few unbiassed people will differ from that conclusion.