"FORGOTTEN BOY."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 171, 21 July 1936, Page 5

"FORGOTTEN BOY."

PROPOSED REMEDY.

AN URGENT PROBLEM.

TRAINING CENTRES NEEDED

Behind all the apprenticeship question is a lack of .confidence oil the part of both employers and boys, and the only way to restore a proper understanding is the provision of training courses which will allow boys to apply for work 111 the honest belief that they are worthy of the wages provided for 111 recent legislation. That is the opinion of Mr. N. G. (Iribble, who has been intimately associated with the problems of youth employment for some years past. .Mr. dribble, who is secretary of the Auckland Boys' Employment Committee, points out tliat the provision of training centres, where boys who have been handicapped bv not being able to entei industry through the ordinary channels of apprenticeship, might bo taught enough of a chosen trade to lit them for existing wages, would be a solution of the problem. "Many boys have visited the Employment Committee in the hope that the organisation may be able to do something for them, and have left believing that all hope was gone when they were told that they would have to receive £2 a week," said Mr. dribble. '•They say that employers will never consider tliem if they have to be paid that amount, but if they are trained they can go to the employer with confidence and state that they are worthy of their hire." In the opinion of Mr. dribble there are roughly three classes of boys to be considered." Firstly, those who have been kept at a' secondary school by their parents until they are 18 or 10 years old; secondly, the boys who ha\e left a secondary school early or have never been there, and have just drifted about from job to job; and, thirdly, the boys who have left school for some time and have looked for work until they believe that nobody is interested in them. All would benefit by the training scheme and by being given preliminary training in engineering, carpentry, designing or any other trade. A small wage could be paid as an incentive to the boys, added Mr. dribble. The problem was of such importance that it would have to be dealt with under Government control. For the third class there was an urgent need of physical training, as many of the youths had become flabby in body as well as in mind, owing to their long wait since they had left school. There were places now unused where training could be carried out, the defence grounds at Ngaruawaliia being a good example.