DEARTH OF APPRENTICES

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 38, 13 August 1921, Page 6

DEARTH OF APPRENTICES

TO IHI EDITOR.

Sir,—The twin writers of the Welfare League are to be thanked for bringing before the public, through your valuable columns, so important (1 a national question as'the welfare of our Dominion industries. If we are to develop as a nation, our youth must be induced to become skilled in the arts and crafts, as well as in the sphere of commercial enterprise. The failure of onr industries to attract the youth is therefore a serious matter., Thero must be a strong reason for tHis universal antagonism towards the skilled trades. The son no longer follows the footsteps of bis father, and the experience of a' lifetime is lost to the nation. The skill of the crafts must and does perish. All this is reflected in the universal complaints of associations of employers. The gape are being | filled by all kinds, and the. community is penalised by inferior pro-* duction. The solution of this great problem lies in discovering and removing the cause of,this antagonism. .. It is not the nature of the employment that repel?, for that is, in most cases, attractive enough ; it is the rewa/ds offered for services rendered, and the loss of social status that directs the coiirse of the school boy, who has no difficulty in choosing which of two careers he will strive for, when there is placed before him the rewards of oar industrial It is not enough to tell him the' trades require his services. He rightly looks for rewards, and the commercial atmosphere in which he is reared leads him to seek the best. His father is a skilled artisan and a worker, his reward fluctuates with the weather, his pay'ceas'es during sickness; when disabled by accident, not always his own fault, he receives halfpay only. During the holiday period he receives no wages, \ and cannot afford to travel. After 30 years' continuous service, his wages are still the. minimum, afterwards he grows old and is rewarded with the old-age pension. His social comforts when in employment were nil; he is, after all, a worker. It is also presented to the boy 1 that he cannot learn the trade in his employer's workshop, that he will require to work longer hours than his companion who enters the Civil Service; that, again, he will receive less remuneration, and will require to forego the social comforts of his friends. He is equally equipped with his friend in the Civil Service. He has attended the same schools and obtained the same standard of efficiency. But that is not enough; he must spend his leisure time and his parents' resources to obtain the knowledge to become efficient. His brother, who has entered a commerical career, with no better qualifications, can devote his time to cultural pursuits, has larger prospects placed before him, is paid full wages during sickness, receives holidays' in full pay, and is rewarded in old age by a handsome pension. Not being mentally blind, ,he chooses an occupation that will treat him as a human being, and follows his brother's footsteps. He is typical of the. average boy. He seeks social justice, and fails to find it in the skilled trades. The united efforts tof all well wishers are necessary to remove those disabilities -which havd toen too long retained, and which are a' disgrace to a country that has claimed for many years to lead the English-speaking world in social legislation.—l am, etc.,

SKILLED ARTISAN

9th Augnst. |