MAKING FARMERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 February 1922, Page 5

MAKING FARMERS.

WORK OF THE REPATRIATION DEPARTMENT. NEARLY A THOUSAND MEN TRAINED. The training of discharged soldiers in farming work of various kinds has been an important part of the duty of the Repatriation Department. The latest figures show that the department has arranged farm training for no fewer than 962 men. Some 504 men have been trained on Government farms, and 105 are still' in training there. The rest of the men have got their training witfy private farmers, the department subsidising their wages and otherwise assisting them. Seriously disabled men requiring specialised tuition in bee-keeping, poultry-raising, etc., have been trained at Ruakura, Avonhead and Tauherenikau, while fit men requiring general farm experience have obtained their tuition at Weraroa, Penrose and Mbtuihi. Some men were given training on the Moa Seed Farm, in Central Otago. All the trainees received allowances from the department in addition to pension, with extra payments for wives and children.

Under its subsidised wages scheme the department placed men with approved practical farmers, at a wage of at least £1 per week, plus board. It paid each trainee £1 a week, plus pension, thus placing him on the same footing as a trainee in a workshop or factory.