BRITISH YOUTH

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21214, 10 September 1940, Page 9

BRITISH YOUTH

WORK ON THE LAND HELP FOR FARMERS The long vacation this spring brought together Oxford undergraduates, schoolmasters and students from agricultural colleges for the first Land Service Camp to be held this season at Springhead, Fontmell Magna, states the Christian Science Monitor. With war as a background, the keynote of this camp, observed by organisers and leaders alike, was a deep earnestness, enthusiasm and steadiness of purpose. Planning and execution of camp duties was particularly easy. The youths were keen to start work and eager to learn and observe. The schedule included a seven hours’ day of manual labour in the fields and on the farm. Operations planned were potato planting, the fencing of a portion of the estate, threshing corn (wheat), and the digging and draining of a water-logged meadow—this last a part of a larger scheme of land reclamation. Men were quickly graded according to capacity and strength. Farm work is skilled work, and the local farmers were not slow to ask for the students from the agricultural colleges who had already mastered the | rudiments of their job. But great 1 good nature was shown by the ex- ! pert to the raw keen lads who only j wanted the chance to prove themi j selves. To Meet Shortage ; , The shortage of men on the Engllish farms this year will necessitate

the use of voluntary service of all kinds. In addition to the Women’s Land Army, which is already greatly appreciated by the farmers, boys’ schools and city workers are all keen to lend a hand. Students will give up their vacations and such as can will offer part time service during term time. This will call for as many trained camp leaders as can be prepared in the time, and members of the Springhead Ring will be needed for this purpose. The average English schoolboy responds well to the mixture of freedom and responsibility which is the keynote of the camps. Schoolmasters are anxious for their older boys to enroll. Good leadership of the camps is, therefore, of primary importance, and the Springhead ideals—the insistence on the spiritual motives behind the manual and practical side —provide an admirable foundation on which to build.