LAND ONLY HOPE

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 265, 4 August 1932, Page 8

LAND ONLY HOPE

Unemployed Juveniles APPRENTICE TRAINING Mr. S. G. Smith’s Inquiries “WHITE COLLAR” IDEA Dominion Special Service. Wanganui, August 3. Speaking at a public meeting tonight, Mr. S. G. Smith, M.P., said that 99 per cent, of the boys out ot ■ work would never find work in offices. “The unemployed youth problem has always been with us, but it is more acute at present,” he said. The whitecollar Idea would have to go, and the main avenue of employment would be the land. Mr. Smith pointed out that the Unemployment Board in New Zealand had given considerable assistance to boys under 20 years of age. He said that the unemployment tax was estimated to produce £3,500,000; In addition the people themselves had found £1,500,000. The New Zealand Government had done more for its unemployed than had any other country in the world. Wrong Impression. Referring to the Shops and Offices and Apprentices Acts, he said that It had been suggested that some amendments might be desirable, but he would refrain from any personal comment. He pointed out that many employers Imagined that they were bound by these Acts, whereas investigation showed that they were not. He suggested that technical schools might be used to complete apprentices’ training where employers were unable to do so. It had come to his notice that in some cases boys were bound to employers, and vice versa, when the employer himself was reduced to working under the No. 5 scheme. It was cheering to note, said Mr. Smith, a return of confidence In business and the optimistic view being taken by men who a year ago regarded the future with dismal foreboding. He urged the Wanganui Juvenile Unemployment Committee to continue in Its good work. Requested by Mr. Smith to Inform film of the work done for boys and girls In Wanganui, Mr. F. G. Beaven outlined the schemes which the Wanganui organisation was putting into operation. He said that the Y.M.C.A. was behind the movement, which had support from all classes in the community. A registry for unemployed boys had been opened In Wanganui, and of 150 boys registered at the beginning of the week 43 had been found permanent positions. Numbers of others had parttime jobs. This was In addition to Mr. D. McFarlane’s scheme, by which more than 100 boys had been placed on farms. Trade classes had been started for those boys who were still workless. -He explained that the work of the committee was more educational and for the moral adjustment of unemployed youth than for the purpose of acting, as a commercial unemployment agency. Revision of Acts. Mr. Beaven considered that there was a very urgent need for a revision of the Shops and Offices and Apprentices Acts so that unemployed youth might be absorbed In industry without danger of exploitation arising. A house-to-house census to find the numbers of unemployed boys and girls in Wanganui was proposed, and should be completed within a month. An proposing a vote of thanks to Mr. Smith, Mr. W. A. Veitch, M.P., said that Mr. Smith was deserving of thanks for the earnestness with which he was carrying out the duties of a purely honorary position. The mayor, Mr. N. G. Armstrong, presided.

TARANAKI DISCUSSION Employers and Apprentices By Telegraph—Press Association. New Plymouth, August 3. ‘To urge upon the Government the necessity for an alteration of the Apprenticeship Act, so altering conditions and wages as to make it possible for employers to employ a full number of apprentices in their respective trades, was the decision of-a meeting to-day representative of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce, the Farmers Union, and the Rotary Club. The chairman of the chamber, Mr. A. F. Sanford, suggested that the Government should take the responsibility of paying boys 5/- a week for the first 12 or 18 months of their apprenticeship, so that employers would be'induced to engage apprentices without delay.