THE BOYS' COUNTRY WORK SOCIETY.
[To nis EDITOR or ass ..Brecr,tro..1 SIR,—The Spectator is always ready to support any sane scheme for doing good, whether in town or country; nor are its readers backward in supporting good causes. I venture, therefore, to appeal through your columns on behalf of the Boys' Country Work Society, which was instituted in 1905 for the purpose of placing London lads of fourteen and upward on farms, with a view to their permanent settlement on the land. Since the Society commenced work situations have been found with farmers for eight hundred and forty-seven boys, the numbers having risen from twelve in 1906 to a hundred and ninety in 1913, spread over many counties from Yorkshire to Cornwall. No boy is sent to the country unless he is of good character and in good health; they "live in" with their employers, and till they are eighteen they are supervised by unpaid " County Secretaries," ladies or gentlemen, who visit the farms from time to time, attend to any complaints made by employers or employed, and receive and forward applica- tions for new boys for the neighbourhood. On December 31st last three hundred and thirty-five lads were thus under super- vision ; and the continuous demand from farmers for more boys shows that the great majority of them do well. After supervision ceases it ia naturally less easy to keep in touch with them, but in regard to a hundred and ninety-one we know that a hundred and nineteen are still working on farms or are otherwise employed in the country ; thirty-six have emigrated, twenty-aix have joined the Navy or Army, and the remaining ten the merchant service. But for the action of the Society which gave these lads the chance of developing their physique in fresh air, few of them would have been fit for the employ. ments they have taken; the majority would have swelled the numbers of the weedy youths who pass from blind-alley occupations into the ranks of the unemployed. As already stated, there are plenty of applications for more lads in the country, but the power of the Society is limited by lack of funds. The average cost of each boy sent to the country is less than £2 10s., allowing for his share of the office expenses, &a.; but though the salaries hardly exceed the sum paid for postages and telegrams, the subscriptions and donations do not suffice to meet expenses. A special effort made two years ago, when Lord Shaftesbury was chairman, keeps the bank account for the present on the right side, but more money is needed to enable the Society to continue work on its present scale, and with larger resources there is no doubt that more could be done, especially where there is a shortage of farm labourers. There are few, I think, either in town or country, who will not approve of the objects for which the Society is working, and I do not think any who help it will find their money is not well applied. Full information on any point will be given on application by the Secretary, Miss Brooke Smith, 7 John Street, Adelpbi, and subscriptions will be gratefully received either by her or by the Hon. Treasurer, the Hon. Venetia Baring.—I am, Sir, &e.,
Chairmen Boys' Country Work Society.
[We wish Lord Fortescue and his friends all possible success in the work they are doing. Better work it is difficult, nay, impossible, to imagine, for they are giving what we must all wish for the young—a chance to make a fair start in life's handicap. If only a hundred Spectator readers would each send the 503. required to place a London boy on a farm, something worth doing would have been accomplished.—En. Spectator.]
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