The Press. MONDAY, MAY 29, 1911. THE "HALF-TIMER" AND OTHERS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14055, 29 May 1911, Page 6

The Press. MONDAY, MAY 29, 1911. THE "HALF-TIMER" AND OTHERS.

Mr Runriinai* went to the British Education Office as a young man with a reputation to make, to a position in which neither Mr Birrell nor Mr MoKenna had been very successful. He has. however, been lots of a success than his predecessors, but if ho passes the- Bill outlined in our cnblo news this morning he will at least havo shown that he has the courage to grapple with a grave problem. The Bill enables local authorities to comnel attendance at continuation classes up to tho age of sixteen, and abolishes what is known «s the half-time scholar. As local authorities in England are rather notorious for not taking advantage of power,.*, conferred on them by legislation, thero is a provision that where this continuation clause is not enforced the normal ago for leaving thc elementary school will be raised to fourteen years. The Bill, at least so far as ono section of it. is concerned, is a long-delayed piece of justice to the child. The half-time system should have been abolished years ago, not sixty-six years after Mrs Browning wrote "Tho Cry of tho Children." Under this system children spend half tho day in the mill and half at school, attending school morning and afternoon alternately. They work in tho mill from six till after noon, or from halfpast ono to half past five. The system is bad for the child mentally, physically, and morally. Teachers say, and it is quite obvious/ that it is impossible to educate these "half-timers;" indeed sometimes it ia difficult to keep tho tired scholars from falling asleep. Moro than that, they.keep tho wholo class back. The humid atmosphere of somo of the mills is bad for tho child's health, and it is said that this kind of work at fin early age produces a deplorable precocity. When, as is often tho cose, tho whole family work in the mills —father, mother, and children—the housework has to ho done at night, which moans that even after factory and school, the tired child's day's work is not over. Whero this is the caso, w© may bo suro that the family meals aro seldom what they ought to be, and th© child does not get proper nourishment. Tho truth is that whatever the employer's share of tho responsibility may bo, many parent, in Lancashire havo com© to regard the child as a money-earning asset, and sacrifico its health and morals for its weekly wag© of half-a-crown to three shillings. It was estimated a few years ago that thero wore 80,000 children ui\der this handicap, bo it is obvious that tho effect of such a system on th© national physique must be very appreciable.

But tho half-time problem is only part of a largo one which this Bill endeavours to solve. Thousands of boys in England who leavo school take up employment which involves their being stranded at manhood without a regular occupation, and it is thought that a great deal of the chronic unemployment that worries English statesmen and social workers would disappear if these boys wero kept longer at school and better equipped for their life's work. What aro known as "blind-alley" occupations havo been discussed a great deal by English educationists during the last few years, and most of these experts think that boys should be compelled to continue their education beyond tho ages at which they leavo school now. A Royal Commission recently reported strongly against the street child labour that is so common at Home, and no doubt its recommendations have carried weight with Mr Runt-man. Curiously enough ono of tho worst offenders in tho country is tho Government itsolf. Tho Post Office employs thousands of boys for a few years and then turns them adrift at sixteen without a trade, on to the casual labour market, and, moreover, works them at such varied hours that thoy cannot attend evening classes. But great a_ are tho evils of child labour in England, the wholo system is not on© to bo swept away lightly with a few strokes pf the pen. Tho problem is not on© that can be solved by rushing at t impetuously, and it- to bo hoped that Parliament, wrestling with the heavy programme of tho Ministry, will bo ablo to givo the Bill the careful consideration it deserves.