TO EMPLOY YOUTH

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 27, 1 August 1932, Page 9

TO EMPLOY YOUTH

rSEFITL WOODWORK

BOYS' INSTITUTE PLAN

START MADE TO-DAY

With the idea of finding work for unemployed lads from 14 to 20 years of age, the Wellington JBoysMnstitute h.as evolved a plan involving the use of the old gymnasium, which has been fitted up with carpenters' benches, by which thirty-six boys will be employed every day for five days a week. The plan is the result of considerable thought, said the "chairman of the Management Committee (Mr. L. T. ,"Watkins) to-day. The first thing to do-was to obtain work for the boys to 'do,.and eventually £100 worth of orders was secured, for simple woodwork such as kitchen" furnishings in the way of rolling pins, salt and condiment boxes, knife boxes, pastry boards, bread plates, towel rollers, and racks. Eighteen boys will work four hours iu tho mornings, and eighteen will work four hours in the afternoons, under the supervision of the instructors. It is hoped that further orders will be forthcoming. Tho range of articles that can be produced is considerable, such things "as wheelbarrows, light ladders, short steps, and in fact any not very complicated woodwork being within the compass of the best of the boys, many of whom have had- considerable experience in the use of tools. There is no desire on the paTt of the institute to make a profit out of the.work, and as the money comes in it will be used for providing' further work, ; .

ilr. Watkins and the director (Mr. W. J: Jordan) were busy this morning intervieiving applicants for tho work. Some forty boys turned up, from all parts of 'Wellington and the suburbs, andithe majority seemed anxious-to start, though the pay offered for the ■twenty hours of work weekly is small. Their experience and circumstances were noted, in order that the best boys Blight be selected from those homes where their help would be the most Valuable.-. Most of them have had some experience in the use .of tools, though the range of occupations they had been engaged in in better times was a wide one. Quite a lot of them had under- . taken odd labouring jobs, and none was in the trade he had started in; a number had been absent from regular work for months. In a brief address to the gathered lads, Mr. .Watkins emphasised that-they would be under strict discipline, and that the pay was small, but fhat.it was probable that all those who did well would benefit by being drafted out to outside positions as these occurred. . . :

/ Tho former: gymnasium has been •fitted up as a workroom. Each bench has a complete set of carpenters' tools. Prom the replies of many of'the boys •to the questions put to them," it was evident that they had had sufficient ex•perience at technical colleges to underfake the elementary woodwork offering, and that some of them were more: highly qualified. As was pointed out to them, the main idea was to give •H:hem-healthy employment which would be of use,to the community. The queue of forty lads, showed that this many, at any rate, preferred to-utilise, their time "to-wasting it., Though the minimum pay is fixed, it is hoped to be able to, pay. considerably more to those.. boys' ■whose .application and efficiency earn