THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1907. PUBLIC SCHOOL-BOYS AS EMIGRANTS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8353, 9 February 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1907. PUBLIC SCHOOL-BOYS AS EMIGRANTS.

Is the English public school-boy a failure on the land in the colonies? The question was raised the other day at the Headmasters' Conference in the Old Country, and one, or two interesting interviews on the subject appear in the London Tribune. Canada was the country in question, but no doubt the opinions elicited would apply to the Empire generally. Lord Strathcona was inclined to be optimistic on the subject and to think that the English public schoolboy was more often successful than not. successful ranchman from Alberta, who was a public schoolboy himself once, was less kind. He attributed the "failure of public school-boys to the fact that not only were they not taught the dignity of labour while it school, but rather learnt to sneer at it. "I do not mean," he said, "that they are taught that it is derogatoiy to labour, but the fact is, they are all sons of the richer portion of the community, and look upon those who work as in some way their inferiors. I have watclied lots of fellows in Calgary, my nearest town, when they have first arrived from England. ( They generally have a little money, and the; majority of them refuse to take the first job that offers, which probably would not pay more than ten dollars a month and their keep. They refuse first one job and then another, and wonder that they get.no offers at all when their money has run out." This

gentleman was rather contemptuous of the value of the training given by the ordinary agricultural schools in England as preparation for life in Canada. Boys so trained, he said, seemed to think that they were far superior to the average Canadian. They wanted to manage ranches and farms the day they arrived, and tried to teach people how to work land they had worked for years with success, presumption which was naturaly resented. He advocated a three-years' training at a school conducted by men with practical experience in Canadian farm work, the curriculum to include carpentering, blacksmithing, ploughing, milking, butter and cheesemaking, and the use of an axe, a lassoo, and a rifle. The boys should then go to Canada and take the first position that offered. There has recently been formed in Canada a Public Schools Association, which will endeavour to give advice and assistance, resulting from local knowledge and experience, to young fellows from British public achools who seek their fortunes in Canada, and it is hoped that similar associations will be formed in other parts of the Empire.