OUR BOYS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 278, 29 May 1873, Page 6

OUR BOYS.

(To the Editor.) ~*> \ Sir, — Tour article uuder the above ! heading bus attracted my attention, and besides bestowiug upon it some thought, I lmve watched for kindred articles in the columns of your contemporaries. In the South Australian "Chronicle" of the 12th ult.. I find a paragraph bearing upon tho subject,, which I deem worthy of reproduction. Here it is : — " There ia one thing in which Victoria stands almost without a rival, aud that is in her efforts to bring the young under good influences. lustead of allowing them to wander uncared for in the' public streets, all sorts of devices are framed for training them to habits of industry, and raising them in the social scale. A striking proof of thi3 has been afforded during the lust few days in the exhibition of specimens of workmanship contributed by lads of from twelve to twenty years of age, connected with the Collingvvoocl School of Design. These lads are, for the most p.wf, apprentices, and would probably have belonged to the " larrikin " clas9, had not :; few friends taken it into their heads th.it s nnething better might be made of them, and had they not been induced to compete with each other in the manufacture i-f articles con nected with their respective, trades in their leisure hours of an evening. At this, their first exhibition, the articles contributed consisted of picture frames, chests of drawers, specimens of bookbinding, washing-tubs, plaster casts, an inlaid footstool, a copper still, and an almost endless variety of othe.r things. If not all first-clasd, these exhibits were all respectr.ble, and did the lads amazing credit. Mr. Joel Kade, a member of the Borough Council, was the projector of thia movement, and it is one that deserves to be generally followed. It would ba of as much advantage in other colonies as thia. Room for something of the kind might, perhaps, be found in Adelaide." I ask this question. Could not something of the same kind be done here? Ido not mean iv Dunedin— but in Lawrence. Is there not plenty of room here /or a School of Art ? on a small scale perhaps, but none the less useful. I think that the Athenteuin Committee might most advantageously take this matter up, and by elucidating and making it a success, the Committee would benefit the present generation, and be honored by posterity. Should the idea I have thrown out; be favorably received, I have no doubt that the public will so mark its appreciation of the effort, as to ensui'o its present and ultimate success, — I am, &c, Pabma..