PRESSING PROBLEM

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 9, 12 January 1932, Page 10

PRESSING PROBLEM

UNEMPLOYED BOYS

SCHEME ADOPTED

APPEAL TO FIRMS

Tho urgent necessity for immediate steps to be taken to solve the problem of unemployed boys was emphasised today at a meeting of the V.M.C.A.Itotary Boys' Unemployment Committee, and strenuous efforts arc to be made to put into operation a scheme suggested by Mr. B. H. Ninimo. i Mr. Nimmo suggested that business firms in the city should be asked to employ one or more boys at a minimum wage of 5s a week. The boys, he said, would be supplementary to existing staffs, and the firms should give an undertaking that there would be no exploitation of the scheme to make way for cheap labour. Mr. Nimmo presided at the meeting, and there were also present Messrs. W. Appleton, J. I. Goldsmith, chairman of the local Unemployment Committee, P. Fraser, M.P., F. Cornwell (Trades and Labour Council), AY. Bluudell, Dr. Montgomery Spencer, and L. J. Greenberg, general secretary of the V.M.C.A. AN URGENT PROBLEM. Mr. Nimmo explained that the purpose of the" meeting was to consider further developments in connection with the problem of finding work for boys at present unemployed in Wellington. In consultation with business men and welfare workers in Wellington, he had ascertained that the boy unemployment problem was reaching very serious proportions: In addition to the large number who were unemployed at the end of last year, 500 of whom had registered at the V.M.C.A., the ranks of workless boys lad been supplemented by the addition of a large number who had left the schools. The prospects of obtaining work for these boys were very slender indeed. WORK AT PENROSE. Mr. Greenberg emphasised the importance of transferring a large number of these boys to. farming pursuits in the country. He spoke of the progress of the training work at Penrose where close on 100 boys, under the auspices of the V.M.C.A., and with tho cooperation of the Department of Agriculture, were being trained for work in the country. Mr. Greenberg, who- was in charge of tho scheme, reported that these city boys Were showing remarkable aptitude and keenness for farm work. Seventy-two of tho hundred had volunteered to forego all recreation work at the camp, and during tho afternoons proceed with their agricultural training in an intensified form. They were learning milking, harnessing, ploughing, fencing, and were gaining experience with horses and sheepi Already several positions had been offered to boys, and the camp authorities were hopeful of placing a large number of them in permanent employment. Mr. Nimmo expressed the opinion that, valuable though it might be as an intensive, experiment, tho Penrose scheme was merely scratching the surface of the problem. He had evolved, therefore, a scheme for placing a large number of boys in city employment. He suggested that the scheme should be known as the "Boys' Unemployment Emergency Belief Scheme." The various business firms in the city should be approached, he said, -with a view to taking on one or more boys at a minimum of 5s a week, supplementary to the existing staff, the firms giving an undertaking that there would be no exploitation of the scheme by way of dismissals to make way for cheap labour.. The money paid to the boys should bo regarded, not as wages, but as a relief allowance. Tho reason for that was obvious. Twenty to twentyfive years ago parents were only too glad for their boys to start work at this wage. The present level of prices of primary products he thought they now. had to regard as normal, and wages would, have to be governed by these circumstances. APPEAL TO BE MADE. An appeal should be made to employers of Wellington to make room for these extra boys. Meanwhile the committee through the V.M.C.A. would register all boys unemployed and make a careful selection of suitable boys for the respective jobs offering. Employers would, be definitely assured that in agreeing to accept the services of an extra boy, that only boys suited to their particular, requirements would be submitted. The committee would arrange for the personal interviewing of every boy, and employers might regard the .V.M.C.A. as a central bureau for their requirements. The committee would now ask for particulars of work of both a permanent and a temporary character. It was hoped to have all the plans complete by Ist February, and a drive would be held during- February to link up boys with the business houses and other firms concerned. Those present concurred with the view that this was a matter of extreme urgency, and that if occupation was not soon found for these boys tho consequences were likely to be disastrous, and in the end a large number of the boys would be found to be unemployable. Eealising the importance of the scheme on hand, Messrs. P. Fraser, M.P., W. Blundell, and F. Cornwell agreed to join with the Y.M.C.A.-Botary Committee. Mr. J. Pearce Luke and Mr. J. Abel, chairman of tho Manufacturers' Association, were also added to the committee.