COAT-ON CALLINGS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 112, 14 May 1927, Page 7

COAT-ON CALLINGS

$HE BOY AND THE GIEL

H THEIR MUTUAL COMPETITION

lifciiß APPRENTICE-LIMITATION * ' .. ..,_

The struggle to place boys in the . over-supplied professional and commercial occupations is made harder because of the increasing invasion of these occupations by the boys' sisters. / The article recently'published in the pPoaf on. the problem 6i finding em■jjj4oyment for young people has not Jidrawn forth as many written contributions to the discussion as might have 9>een expected. Perhaps one reason is jjthe difficulty of dealing comprehensivefly with the subject within limited t*pace. So far one of the best attempts wo dig into the problem has been made fby Mr. W. Maddison, and it is to be regretted that his article is too long, jtoo- detailed, and too tabulated to be published in full. To "say it in terms of popular reading" is not easy; but if the thing is said in any other way it too <6ften goes unread. , _ From Mn MaddisoVs compiled figures fit would seem that according to the p. 921 census the total number of breadjjwinners in New Zealand was 545,517, -including: Professional class 51,885, 79,120, transport 55,335, industrial 118,932, primary (land) 151,936. nThe professional, and the commercial, added together, total 131,005. THE BOY'S SISTEE. • In 1906 the professional and the commercial, combined, employed 79,066 per.Mons, of whom 24.22 were females. In 1921 the total had risen to 131,005 persons, of whom 32.59 were females. This advance in the feminine proportion is significant. .

Mr. Maddison states that the number of boys of sixteen years of age last year •jwas approximately 11,500. ,Hovv sfiould ;tnis annual contingent of 11,500 sixteen-lyear-olds be absorbed? How many boys should go to assist the 118,932 persona employed in industry (where there is a limitation of apprentices), the 131,005 in professional and commercial and the 151,930 persons in primary? _ Mr. Maddison's answer is that iOOO fcoys might be placed in trades in the iproportion of one to three. In the comr Tmrnn ai i? nA * Profession<*l group of .0.31,005 bread-winners, it might fairly ,te. considered that 5600 boys could be placed if they were not ousted by cirl With regard to the balance, wo prmst admit the right of primary industry to a sufficient number of boys to & ?f th6 + ,industr y to its norma" jtrength, or the industry will languish *or want of trained labour." ,The quoted remarks are indefinite as ■to primary, but Mr. Maddison is able to quote figures indicating that primary have declined in tho percentage of labour employed in them (that is, in percentage of labour to total breadwinners ,as given above). Tho percentage of labour m primary declined from 42.9 an 1896 to 35.48 in 1906, and to 34.24 in ;i»2l; ,'but "this statement applies to males only." As to industrial, tho porcentago rose from 28.17 in 1896 to 32 27 an 1906, but in 1921 had receded to 23 4 Comparing the above, it will be seen ,tnat professional and commercial have increased far out of proportion to primary and industrial, and in tho two former rapidly increasing groups the great increase In percentage of female ionnrt has occu"-ed. "Approximately 22,000 men ha,ve been displaced by*women, which is one of the chief reasons lor therei-.being a difficulty in placing ■pur boys.'.'■ ■

LIMIT IN THE TRADES. Mr, Maddison thinks that, until primary makes a progressive move, secondary industry cannot absorb any greater proportion of bojm than in the past. Professional and commercial, already overgrown, cannot absorb more. With ?c----gard to industrial, and limitation of apprentices, ho writes:— possible maintenance of tho necessary .skilled *en in the various industries, J. made a calculation based upon our «wn trado usages (carpentry and joinery) of one,apprentice to three iourneymen. I started wit* 8000 men, of which 1 9rU fi ri >rop,°ftion «* aPI"-enticcs Would ifce 2666, making a total of 10.(368 erajployed. in the industry, which agrees nearly with the Census figured i allowed that one man in ten would at «omo period of his life withdraw from (the trade to go into other walks of lifoithis, together with tho death rate and allowance for retiring at 65' years of age, meant an annual loss of 2 por cent. Tho result worked out at an increase of 37.4 per cent, in ten years, •the number of apprentices admitted feeing 6482, tho losses over all classes being 2516, Jeavtag a net gain of 3980 ■which, added to 10,666, t*e figures started with, brings up tho total at ,tne end of the ten years to 14,646. '

A glance at the industrial figures \ show that the total of those employed in industries has docreased, therefore such an increase in tho numbers of skUled workers as tho present quota of one to three provides for would produce more tradesmen than could be employed, unless some great stimulms were applied to the skilled trades generally. The quota is a veritable snowball, increasing as ihe years go on. In the above illustration the first year's quota was 566, the tenth year's quota was 889. ....

BACK TO THE LAND. "It will, I think, bo readily admitted that it is th# duty of the powers that be to see that the wheels of industry are kept going in any and ervevy aspect irrespective of individual likes or dislikes, or of individual interests, in favour of tho greater good for the greater oumber, and that .anything ■which stands in tho way of progress must fee swept aside, and that which makes for greater efficiency encouraged._ To this end a greater study by practical minds should be «ado of the •vvfcole industrial position. The value of labour retained in. tho country and supplying the country's wants, instead of relying to such an extent on imports would go for to solving tt.e industrial problem and finding a greater outlet for our boy labour. Closer settlement and more intensive cultivation should be encouraged by the Government, with a view to increasing tho number of those engaged in primary industries. This wcmld not merely absorb a greater number of rural workers, but would further ■timulate the secondary industries. "We recently had a Ministerial statement to the effect that all boys should •be taught a trade. If such a policy •were given effect to, it would soon kill all interest in skilled trades, and the skilled worker would be as hard to locate as the dodo. There are 11,500 boys reaching the age of sixteen years in each year, and the number must increase with the'increaso in population. If these were all taught a trade, ;i we ehou]_ add over 50,000 journey!j men to tho present 42,000, or a total '(" of over 90,000 in five years' time, as against tho present number of 42,000. But long before that could be brought ivbout tho skilled man would have ceased to take.any interest in his occupation, becauso the inducement would be too small and. the continuity of employment so broken that there would be little or no incentive to tho workers to maintain their efficiency. DUSTMAN: MILLIONAIRE. "With regard to tho lower grade oc-. cupations, something should be done to

place these on a better footing than is the case at the present time. "We are apt to look down upon labour generally as being more or less degrading, and to applaud gilded idleness. The man who gets £4 a week and keeps his coat on is given a higher social status than the worker on £6 a week who has to take his coat off to get it. It is placing of wrong values on man's social or industrial position which is responsible to a large extent for the disinclination to, take up certain lines of work. We do not sufficiently realise I the value of service or the dignity of labour. If we did, many of our workers would be receiving better conditions than at present, in view of their value to the nation. A millionaire dies—-no one bothers their head as to who shall succeed him; let the scavenger die, and the powers' that be are immediately concerned about finding some one else to fill his place lest the health of the community- suffer. Hence, from a social point, of- view, the scavenger is'of much more importance than the millionaire. If we preached (and practised) the dignity^ of labour, gave to each worker a distinction equal to his efficiency, and the value of his services to tho nation/wo should soon build up an aiistocracy of labour which would stimulate" workers to more readily take np all classes of labour, realising that it is possible for those that serve to find joy in serving, and a satisfaction in knowing that what they have done they have done well.

"As the position stands at present, wo are clearly at a dead end; it would not be wise to apprentice more boys than the industry can absorb with a guarantee to the skilled man that the continuity of his employment should not be endangered. Unless entirely fresh industries are introduced of a nature not hitherto carried on here,

thoro is Ao possibility of coping with tho situation other than by closer settlement on a fairly large scale. This would give a fresh impetus to secondary industries, which would mean the absorption of considerably more labour than at present, and so find an opening for many more of our boys."