CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 173, 23 July 1936, Page 18

CORRESPONDENCE.

POINTS FROM LETTERS,

EMPLOYMENT PROBLEMS. In your paper we read of mueli talk concerning the shortage of skilled work people. As a motor body builder of eleven years' practical experience and aged 31 years, and an unemployed one, too, let me illustrate why skilled operatives are hard to get. Hundreds of single skilled body builders have been on relief work for the past four or five years and many good men at their trade have had to soil their kits of tools. lam safe in saying £20 would hardly set up a single chap to-day, either at motor body building or carpentry trades. How many 17/ per week sustenance men have in the past five years had a credit balance of anything approaching £20? Today I am registered as a casual labourer with the ordinary labourer's outlook, and that is a vory bleak one indeed. I suggest instead of the cast iron union rules of two apprentice boys to every three skilled body builders, we should adopt the same principle as operating in Britain, where an apprentice is allowed out to every full-fledged body maker. Then, sir, we will get somewhere. The truth is this country is raising a vast army of unskilled men, thousands of whom are doomed to the pick and shovel age, which the Hon. Mr. Robert Scmple says must be replaced by modern machinery. I suggest also a huge change from the routine, academic, secondary school education which is drilled into the average high school boy in this country, and a system brought about as now operating in the secondary schools of Germany, the North of Ireland and Sweden, where the boys showing a marked intelligence in woodwork, sheetmetal work or kindred engineering subjects be pushed on and encouraged in these trades. Unfortunately, we find parents in New Zealand leaving the choice of a trade or calling to the various head masters, who a.fter all are a bit out of touch with such mundane things as body building. That is where the confusion begins, but the poor boy who is wanting to be a carpenter or a mechanic suffers and generally ends up as a general labourer. A little co-operation between the captains of industry and soundly endowed State training centres would help the unfortunate youths to be fitted into their place in society. I appeal to body builders and the commonsense of the trade unions to allow more intelligent little chaps who have just in many cases left school to be given a chance at this particular trade, instead of limiting their outlook to running errands and beinsr a real problem to mother, who, goodness knows, has quite enough worry to overcome without rearing a son to follow a life of indifference and idleness. H. A. WATSON.

PUBLIC WORKS.

I- wish the Labour party would show conclusively how much good they have done for the genuine unemployed since they have been in office. You say, rightly, in a sub-leader, that sustenance men are now the most numerous group among New Zealand's unemployed; but are you correct in inferring that a considerable number of skilled tradesmen and craftsmen are being tempted to forsake their jobs by the bait of glamorous Public Works rates ? In the face of such an appalling unemployment list as at present exists, what man of sense is going to leave his assured bird-in-the-hand for the uncertainty of a job he may yet have to wait months for, and at a class of work he would obviously be a fish out of water? Granted that there are many men without much sense and there is an undoubted in a Certain limited range—the fact remains that the most numerous class in this country is the Jack-of-all-trades and the labourer. It seems to be a sort of blind alley that he gravitates to, and his name is legion. Mr. D. P. Jones writes to thank the Government for what it has done for the men in his own district, and not for humanity in general. This reminds me of the Scotsman's prayer—"Bless me and my wife, Jock and his wife, we four and no more." A letter from "A.A.A." says: —"Few men have done so much for the unemployed as Mr. Semple. As a man on sustenance, I can say that, generally speaking, we have every confidence in him, etc." This prompts me to ask why did Mr. Semple close down the County Council camps in Franklin and other counties four months ago, long before he was ready to provide something in their stead? What else has Mr. Semple done for the unemployed? What he is going to do is beside the argument. If a general election were pending this year, instead of two years hence, does "A.A.A." think he would see the spectacle of 20,000 men on sustenance? KAIMANAWA.

THE 40-HOUR WEEK,

With all due respect, as an immigrant of 30 years in New Zealand, to our governors, in my lifetime I have never found any recompense without toil. Can it therefore be possible for each one of us to be paid for 40 hours the same wages as for 48, and still see enterprise flourish? Our local transport system failed last year to the extent of £10,000, and with additional new hands employed will bring the loss to over £40,000 next year. Am I, as a worker with my own home and whose rates have already risen 60 per cent in ten years, to have another addition tagged on to meet the deficiency of the transport system, and likewise to pay the ■subsidy on our country's produce? Can the workers not see a little ahead as to what will eventually happen? AUTOCRAT OF LABOUR.

AIR RAID SHELTERS,

I have noticed lately that some of the political leaders are beginning to realise that there is a possibility of Zeppelins or 'planes giving us a visit and dropping a few complimentary bombs, as they did in Edinburgh in 1915, when women and children were blown to bits. There are plenty of hills in Auckland and -ill over New Zealand where tunnels could be bored and fitted out withj watei*, electric ventilating, seweiage, etc., where the population could fly fori shelter in the case of an air raid alarm. These they have in all other countries. The electric stations, benzine tanks and water reservoirs should be underground or camouflaged, as those are the fii st j places they go for nowadays. Now is the time to get all our surplus unemployed into useful work. We should have gas mask drill, as other countries have. R. L. JACK.

PRISON. REFORM.

The statement by Mr. B. L. Dallard, Controller-General of Prisons, in the "Star" of the 18th inst., will, we hope, be read carefully by the public. It supplies * an excellent. example of , the methods of the Controller-General, and provides some explanation of statements made by the Hon. H. G. R. Mason, Minister of Justice. May we beg space to make some observations on the Controller-General's statements ?

I.' Mr. Dallard takes an obviously incorrect but inconsequential statement from a correspondent's letter recently (not a statement by the New Zealand Howard League), and then proceeds to generalise that "this is typical of many ill-informed .criticisms of our prison system, and it evidences either a deliberate misrepresentation or a pathetic ignorance of the facts." Mr. Dallard does the intelligence of your readers less than justice (or perhaps he is merely naive) if he thinks the public will be satisfied that a statement like his disposes of all criticism. The facts of prison population in New Zealand quoted by the league, viz., that on a population basis we have approximately three times as many prisoners as England, readers will observe, has neither been refuted nor explained. We repeat that New Zealand's prison numbers are excessive. Moreover, the public is paying taxes to keep these prisoners and prisons going, and has a right to know why our figures are so high. On this point both the Minister of" Justice and Mr. Dallard are significantly silent.

2. Later in his statement Mr. Dallard states that "it is strange that our local critics can see no good come out of Nazareth," and seeks to dismiss all criticism by saying "The reason is that other than the fantastic tales a few ex-prisoners are ever ready to pour into their credulous ears, these critics know absolutely nothing of the facts." Mr. Dallard apparently prefers to indulge in this characteristic bandying of words, rather than answer the criticism made by the league. We repeat again that the facts show: —(1) Excessive prison numbers. (2) Lack of real reformative treatment. (3) High percentage of recidivism. (4) Inadequate diagnosis and treatment of offenders, mainly on the psychological level. (•'5) Mainly a punitive attitude to the prisoner; to quote a few facts. These facts have not been answered. The public, we submit, will not be satisfied by this omission by the Controller-General.

3. Finally Mr. Dallard brings as evidence of "discerning people, who have taken the trouble to 'investigate the facts.'" the opinions of four visitors to New Zealand. Before accepting this evidence the public may reasonably ask Mr. Dallard what he really means by "investigate the facts." Does the Controller-General wish the public to believe that he refers to a full impartial investigation of the whole system, or does he refer merely to information gathered on a directed tour of selected parts of the system.

If all is as well with our system as both Mr. Mason and Mr. Dallard suggest, surely there should be no opposition to any investigation. At worst (for the Department) it might show placcs where some improvement could be made (the system cannot be perfect) at best a convincing and overwhelming case for the excellence of our penal system. The league reiterates that a full public investigation is both necessary and justifiable. N.Z. HOWARD LEAGUE FOR PENAL REFORM.