ON EDUCATIONAL TRAINING FOR OVERSEAS LIFE. 31 j 



and if the replies warrant further enquiry, this is made to schoolmasters, clergymen, 

 employers and others. Before being accepted for training, each boy is seen by a 

 Salvation Army officer, and is passed by the family doctor. The Government Medical 

 Inspection takes place after the boy has been on the Training Colony for a few weeks. 



The total number of applications received from boys for the years 1925 and 1926 

 was 20,624. 



The number of boys selected and received for training was 1667. 



The actual sailings were 1519. 



The boys who sailed represented the following proportions of nationalities or 

 districts : — ■ 



English, 59 per cent. Irish, 11 per cent. 



Scots, 25 per cent. Welsh, 5 per cent. 



Trades or occupations were represented in the following proportions : — 

 Trades (i.e., Fitters, Tinsmiths, Woodworkers, 



Butchers, Hairdressers) .... 30 per cent. 



Occupations (i.e., Errand Boys, Shop Assistants, 



Lift Boys, Van Boys) ..... 25 per cent. 

 Unemployed ....... 45 per cent. 



Religious denominations of boys transplanted work out to the following per- 

 centages : — 



Church of England . . .40 



Presbyterian . . . .20 



Church of Ireland . . .4 



Nonconformists . . 23 



Salvationists ... 8 



Roman Catholic . 5 



The ages of boys who actualty sailed may be divided as follows : — 



14 to 17 years ....... 42 per cent. 



17 to 19 years ....... 55 per cent. 



Over 19 years ....... 3 per cent. 



Total Costs. 



The total cost of the transplantation of a youth is on the average about £60, made 

 up as follows : — 



Recruitment and selection : medical fees, etc. ..... 



Training : 8 weeks at 30s. per week ...... 



Railway travelling to training centre and to port of embarkation 



Outfit 



Ocean passage, including embarkation and disembarkation expenses, 

 and rail overseas ...... 



Reception and after-care, covering a period of three years 



Cost of ocean passage varies, and there is also considerable differences in overseas rail 

 costs. Governments (Home and Overseas Dominions) co-operate in meeting or 

 assisting to meet the ocean passages, and in some instances in the other expenses. 



The net cost to Army funds is about £10, and towards this the boys themselves 

 are expected to assist when they are at work overseas. Contributions from boys 

 before sailing, on the average, amount to a little over £1 per boy. In this con- 

 nection it might be noted that while the training of a youth by the Army costs 30s. 

 per week, a young man being trained at one of the Government farms costs 50s. a 

 week, and further, that period of training for a youth is two months as against four 

 months for a young man. 



Repayments : a Moral Principle. — Before passing from the question of costs, 

 reference must be made to the question of payments and repayments by the boys. 

 It is afundamental principle that the beneficiaries of the Army'sministrations — spiritual 

 and social — should, according to their ability, make some contribution towards 

 the cost of the services rendered. All that the Salvation Army asks is that the boy 

 should pay or repay what has been spent of Army funds — which on the average 

 is about £10 — so that similar work may be continued for others. This system 

 engenders a spirit of independence ; it tends to maintain self-respect ; it creates a 

 thought for others and helps us to continue the good work. The scheme limits the 

 period over which repayments can be spread to a maximum of two years. During 

 the first year, clothes, and a fairly liberal amount of pocket money, are a first charge 



