FARM TRAINING COLONY FOR THE UNEMPLOYABLE
[To the Editor of the Spectator.] Sin,--One cause of the prevailing unemployment in our coun- try is that there are so many men wio are unemployable. This fact does not mean in very many cases that they are " work-shy," or that they are unable or unwilling to do honest work. The reason very often is that they have not learned any such work as the country needs. Their state is hopeless because they are untrained.
For thirty years the National' Union for Christian Social Service has been trying to help men and lads of this class. It is our experience that among them there are very few who, if they are treated with kindness and reasonable discipline, cannot be taught to work honestly and well. They are taken into a Farm Training Colony (Turner's Court, Oxfordshire, near Wallingford), taught the elements of farm work, and when they are fit in character and skill, are sent, either to one of the Dominions, or to situations on the land at home. To a very remarkable extent these methods succeed. The great majority of the Colonists become self-supporting and self- respecting citizens.
For the most part the lads are sent to our Training Colony by Boards of Guardians who are willing to pay for their maintenance while they are there in the hope that they will be taken off their hands altogether and become independent. Thus the expense of maintenance is provided largely from public funds. All capital expenditure, however, has to be met from private sources. The Union has to raise the money required to buy and stock the farms, to ensure a water-supply, and to build the necessary accommodation for the colonists and staff.
So many applications for admission were received from Poor Law Guardians all over the country, and from private individuals, that two years ago the Colony was enlarged. An adjoining farm was purchased, and owing to the increased facilities for training thus provided it has become possible to deal with 270 lads and men. Of these over a hundred are sent out every year, able to earn their own living. But the expense has been heavy. The additional colonists were housed in temporary huts which have been pronounced by the Minister of Health to be unsuitable. It has become urgently necessary to build two more permanent homes at a cost of £13,000, if the numbers are to be maintained at their present level. Where the need is so great it would seem to us a calamity that any of these lads should have to be sent away.
We therefore appeal for help to all who would be glad to join in giving an opportunity of deliverance from the misery of dependence to these fellow-countrymen whose present state is so hopeless.
Donations will be thankfully acknowledged by :— The Hon. Treasurer, National Union for Christian Social Service, 34 Paternoster Row, E.C. 4, or by the Secretary, the Rev. R. M. Gray, at the same address. —I am, Sir, &c., J. E. C. WELLDON, Chairman of the Council. , The Deanery, Durham.
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