H,— 3sb

settler the amount to which he would be entitled, which would he normally the difference between the valuation of his improvements and the existing debt on the land. The section would then revert to the Crown and again be available for settlement. Side-lines, such as poultry-raising, bee-keeping, certified-seed raising, orcharddevelopment, should be encouraged, and pig-rearing should be insisted upon. Wherever possible, heifer calves should be kept which would enable the herds to be increased and wastages met without further expenditure of money. An advisory committee should be constituted, consisting of suitable departmental officers. These committees would select the land and youths for the scheme or schemes, and plan the general outline of development, subject to the approval and control of the appropriate Minister. The above proposals are made primarily with a view to absorbing our workless youths into a vocation for which there is scope in New Zealand, but, if given effect to, will at the same time promote land-settlement in New Zealand on sound economic lines. Specialized Farm Training. There are many farmers throughout the country with families of boys, but whose farms are not sufficiently large under existing conditions and methods of farming to assimilate the boys when school days are over. In order to find an occupation for his sons, the farmer in many cases finds it necessary or expedient to send the lads to a city or town to find employment not connected in any way with farming, with the result that these lads are lost to agriculture at the best time of their lives, and add to the drift to the cities. We have deemed it advisable to suggest some scheme or system which will enable these farmers' to be assimilated into the home farm of the parents. We have made a close investigation of the position, and from our inquiries we believe a remedy can be found for minimizing this loss to the rural communities. Development of Farm "Side-lines." —On many farms the usual side-lines of farming are neglected, perhaps for the want of capital or suitable opportunity for specialized instruction, but we consider that if suitable expert instruction could be provided the sons of farmers could in a great number of cases be usefully employed with successful financial results in this way, besides being kept on the land. Included in the term " side-lines " referred to above are the following : (1) Pig-raising ; (2) poultry-farming ; (3) bee-keeping ; (4) heifer calf raising (from tested stock with backing) ; (5) certified-seed raising ; (6) orchard-development. The farmers' sons could be given expert or specialized instruction in these side-lines of farming ; they could develop and take control of one or more of these sources of production on the parents' farm, and thus prepare themselves for the day when, by thrift and industry, they could acquire a property of their own. Our export trade, while almost wholly dependent upon a single market, is also very limited as to its lines. We can enlarge and ensure greater stability of our markets if we widen the range of exportable products, and that desirable objective can be reached by developing the specialized lines enumerated above. It is these lines which could be developed on existing farms by farmers' sons who have been given specialized instruction in their production. Sons of farmers could be saved to the land and our production intensified on a given area of land. . The above scheme is now being put into practice at the Rangiora High School, and is in our opinion worthy of the most careful consideration. One-Datj-a-Week Training.— During our investigations we found that in many cases, because of prevailing economic distress, the farmers had been compelled to withdraw their sons from the educational facilities which would have been provided under normal conditions, and so these lads were deprived of the agricultural instruction which would have fitted them better to take up life on a farm successfully. _ In order to cope with that difficulty, a scheme has been outlined which we consider will prove helpful in such cases. It is what has been termed " one-day-a-week training." This instruction is being provided at one of our high schools in the South Island. On a given day in each week these lads come to the school and receive education in subjects which will better fit them for the agricultural work. This scheme can only be of limited

2 H. 358.

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