3

D.—9

The following report on the junior migration scheme has been received from the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce Taranaki Chamber of Commerce. Report of the Immigration Committee covering its work in connection with the British Public-school Boys. The committee, in presenting a report of its work, desires to first express its appreciation of the ready assistance given it by the Immigration Department (and particularly the Under-Secretary, Mr. H. D. Thomson) and the whole community, which entered into the spirit of a scheme that was in many respects original and had to be tested by actual experience. It was a fortunate circumstance that the chairman of the committee was visiting England at the time of the initiation of the scheme, and was thus able to confer with the authorities at Home, and see the boys and their parents, and generally to manifest an oversight over the arrangements for selecting and despatching the boys. In this he had the ready help of General Sir Andrew Russell, Sir James Allen, and Mr. F. T. Sandford, Chief Immigration Officer, all of whom were keen on. sending out to the Dominion the fine eolonizing-material such as the English public-school boy. Altogether over fifty boys came out in various ships to New Zealand, and were met by members of the committee 011 arrival and escorted to New Plymouth, where they were met by local citizens, who acted as hosts to them until they were despatched to the various farms to which they had been allotted. Before leaving they were accorded a public welcome. The committee has kept in touch with the boys, also with the farmers training them. Without this interest the results would not have been as successful as we confidently feel they have been. If there is one thing more than another which has impressed itself upon us it is that young men like the public-school boys must be able to consult and be guided by a body of responsible and disinterested men if they are to be successfully merged into New Zealand's population. Things here are so different from what they have been accustomed to, and it takes time for them to fit in and settle down. For temperamental and other reasons, several of the boys have applied for transfers to other farms, and these applications have received careful attention, the committee being anxious to consider the interests of the farmers as well as of the boys, and, where thought advisable, the applications have been agreed to. In a few instances the boys have found that they are unsuited to farming-life, and they have secured positions in the towns and are making good. Those on the farms are also making satisfactory headway, some, of course, to a greater extent than others. The committee are quite satisfied with the results. The boys have shown more adaptability than was expected, and are keen upon their work. Most of them come straight from school at Home, and are therefore quite unused to the hard work associated with colonial farming operations, but they have " stuck it " manfully and shown that they possess grit and perseverance and not a little capacity. There has really been no absolute disappointment., for whilst some have found that farming is not their vocation, they have succeeded in other walks of life, and still remain a great asset to the Dominion. The system of giving some of the younger boys, who came out here in February, a course, mainly in agricultural subjects, at the high school before going on the land has been attended with striking success. The process has been greatly facilitated by the Principal and his teachers, who have entered wholeheartedly into the work. Our considered judgment is that this is unquestionably the best way of training the lads from Home in agriculture. They are brought out at the right age, they gain the atmosphere of their adopted country in the school, they make friends there, they are taken out to the farms where they are given practical demonstrations, they are taught by experts the rudiments of their future work, and they are thus well equipped to start on their subsequent course of training on farms, on completion of which they will be able to take up farming on their own account. So successfully was the whole scheme developing that towards the end of last year the committee cabled to Mr. List, in London, to arrange for another batch of fifty boys this year. There will be no difficulty in placing them with good farmers, the applications already being in excess of the number of boys available. The committee's chief desire is to see the boys successfully settled and subsequently able to take up properties of their own. Many will be in this position after the completion of their training-period. The work naturally occupies a good deal of the time of members of the committee, but this has cheerfully been given because of a recognition of the importance of the work not only to Taranaki, but to the whole of the Dominion. Thomas C. List, Chairman of Committee. English Public-school Boys attending the New Plymouth High School. At the beginning of the year six English public-school boys entered this school with the intention of having one year's experience of New Zealand school life before taking up farm-work. All of these have attended English public schools for periods of three to four years, and, with the exception of one boy, have been placed m the Matriculation form. The boys concerned are a fine type of English schoolboy, and are without exception keen to learn all they can of New Zealand conditions and to equip themselves for the work they have chosen. Their conduct has throughout been exemplary, and they have with apparently little trouble settled down in their new surroundings, and are now taking an active interest in the various school activities, mixing with the other boys and making many friends. Their objects in coming to this school are—(l) To take a course mainly in agricultural subjects ; (2) to become acquainted with and to make friends with the New Zealand boys of approximately their own ages, their own educational standards, and their own outlook on life—in short, to partake of the atmosphere of the Dominion ; (3) to be placed on good farms (if possible with parents of New