BOY LABOUR.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2109, 28 March 1914, Page 6

BOY LABOUR.

SOME REASONS FOR SCARCITY. ' The scarcity o| boy labour in trades • was referred to in a letter from- tho Master Plumbers 1 Association which canto- before the T&dinTCiil iMucatioii ' Board last night. Interviewed wii.li regard io the general question of tho scarcity of boys for trades, Mr. \V. S. I.a Troke fjirnished a. Dosiiijiox reporter 'vii his viosvh as to the causes of the - shortage. "I'lio demand -ftir bqys is hot probably diminishing, 1 ' said 51 r. La Trobe. "Boys xeniatuii. longer ,at school -<ui iljo jvoraga and there aid therefore a:| any ' time • fewer for taulo purjioses in proportion to the jKipxilation, The large demand for - casual boy labour leads to high wages being: offered—wages that cannot. "too offered profitably in tho trades, and especially in trades competing with tho products of cheaper labour in other countries. Ttio conditions and prospects in commercial lifo oro moro attractive, if moro illusive-, than those in trades. Tito 'sporting chanco' of advancement looks better in commerce than in tho industrial trades. In many trades there seems to bo .little, demand for yattilg. tradesmen who , havo not long finished their apprenticeship, and in any case such boys should seek further cx- ; perionce ill larcer manufacturing centres and so drift, awav from the. direct control of parents and employers. This eam.ioi but bavo a retarding iniluence 011 parents_ seeking io make. Iht> 1)os\ of ' '■ their children. In many eases that have come r.nder my notice in tho last ten .years it- has h.een apparent that parents have allowed their sons to choose tl'.eir : own employment, and tho lioys naturally go for tho highest wages they can ecu:, maud, without regard for tlicir own. ill \ ■taijajio -bowefit."