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Title Sedgwick Migration Scrapbook 5: Arrival in New Zealand with Boys; Opportunities in New Zealand
Date Jul 1910 - Jun 1911
Document Type Correspondence; Newspaper; Report
Reference RCMS 31/1/85-105, Box 2, Volume 1, Folder 5
Library / Archive Cambridge University Library
Collection Name Thomas E. Sedgwick's Migration Scrapbooks, 1910-1914
Description Correspondence, reports, and newspaper articles relating predominantly to a Farmers' Union conference held at Wellington discussing Thomas Sedgwick's scheme and the demand for young British girls to be given assisted passage in order to supply a shortage in domestic service. Other newspaper articles praise the scheme and urge the organisation of further boys to be given assisted passage to pursue training at New Zealand farms. There are also papers containing opinions of some of the boys on their situation, detailing personal accounts of treatment upon arrival and praising their reception and employers. Some of the correspondence relays the deliberations of the New Zealand government after an extension of the scheme was proposed, informing Sedgwick that the matter is being considered by Mr G. Fowlds, Minister of Immigration. A copy of Sedgwick's interim report on the progress of the scheme can also be found here, alongside papers stipulating other classes of young British men and women eligible for assisted migration to New Zealand and Australia under government regulations and the Unemployed Workmen's Act.
Biographical Note / History In 1911 Thomas Edward Sedgwick organised for a group of 50 boys to be sent from England to New Zealand on board the S.S. Authentic before the outbreak of the First World War. They were sent as part of an experiment to ascertain whether young British boys might help alleviate a shortage of farm labourers in New Zealand and offer a solution to the declining levels of employment opportunities in the crowded British cities. They were trained in all aspects of farming life, and the wages they earnt were paid to the Labour Department while the boys were awarded weekly pocket money.
Theme(s) Arrivals: Ports and Early Experiences; Motives for Emigration
Country (from) Great Britain
Country (to) New Zealand; Australia
Places London, England; New South Wales, Australia
Ports Liverpool, England; Wellington, Auckland, New Zealand
Nationality English; European
People Sedgwick, Thomas Edward; Phillips, Jason M; Fowlds, G; Lomas, J; Reid, Sir George; Brash, T C; Jack, E C; Easton, Herbert; Burns, John
Keywords emigration scheme, shipping, children, agriculture, farming, labour, employment, government, farm school, colony conditions, apprenticeship, politics, unemployment, economics, push factor, population, journey conditions, wages, administration, domestic service, depression, immigration, labour union, working conditions, eligibility, assisted passage, social class, orphan, legislation, exploitation
Language English
Copyright Cambridge University Library