It may come as a bit of a surprise, but the British Section NZEF were not the first to be issued with an Onwards badge.
In my previous post I mentioned that two weeks after the unveiling of the coat of arms, the High Commissioner for New Zealand, Thomas Mackenzie had suggested the establishment of a farm on which lads would be given a year's agricultural training.
In short, an agricultural expert employed by the NZ High Commissioner's Office in London, was detailed by the Immigration Department to proceed into rural districts in the United Kingdom to select fifty boys with farm experience, and arrange for their passages to New Zealand, as part of a NZ Government scheme for encouraging the immigration to New Zealand of British boys brought up to a country life.
Farmers, when applying for boys, were required to state what wages they were willing to pay for the first, second and third year of apprenticeship, and in fairness, those farmers offering the best wages, received the strongest and most experienced boys.
The second batch of fifty boys embarked in the Suffolk for New Zealand on the 9th January 1914.
Thomas Mackenzie, after wishing the boys a good voyage and success at the end of it, said their first essential was steadiness, the second industry, and the third economy. They would require knowledge in the country to supplement their own previous training.
Thomas Mackenzie supplied each of these 50 boys with a small white enamel badge—
“Fern leaves surmounted by a crown, “N.Z.” and Onward”
The High Commissioner asked them to lake "Onward" for their motto.
