YOUTHS AND THE BASIC WAGE.

Evening Star, Issue 22630, 23 April 1937, Page 8

YOUTHS AND THE BASIC WAGE.

Through a statistical report from its secretary and a convincing analytical statement from its rector the Otago High Schools’ Board has received strong evidence in confirmation of the fear that payment of the basic wage to young men at 21 will seriously interfere with education in the Dominion. Although the figures relate only to the Otago high schools, they must reflect a general trend towards a search for work at an earlier age than formerly, in order to comply with the employers’ stipulation that their prospective employees shall not be more than 16 years of age. It would be too much to expect business men, as a body, to help tho community out of its difficulty by paying the basic wage before a youth had emerged from the training period of accepted duration, and it is doubtful if any responsibility or culpability can be laid in their direction. The fault can be traced directly to the legislative basic wage provisions of the Government, which, in view ‘of its strong desire, which we do not question, to foster higher education ' in New Zealand, should immediately consider ways and means of arriving at a solution of the problem. The rector of the Boys’ High School has stated that a far greater proportion of boys left school recently before, reaching the age of 17 than in previous years, and the statistics show that the percentage of departures is greater over the earlier years of school life than later. This can be explained by the natural anxiety of parents whose sons have no professional or public service career mapped out for them to see to it that their offspring are not left behind in the 'competition among sixteen-year-olds and those of even lesser age for the suitable remaining occupations. It is true, as Mr Kidson suggests, that some boys have so little scholastic ability that they would be better off in some practical employment, hut it is also true that the senior years at a good school can, apart from the fruits of study, imbue boys with qualities of personality and character that do not go amiss in any walk of life. It frequently happens, moreover, that a lad has reason to regret that he left school without having passed the University entrance examination, which opens up an avenue to higher education that he may wish to traverse years after having forsaken the secondary curriculum. The existing state of affairs undeniably means that sacrifices changing the whole course of life have to be made. Mr Kidson hints that employers are not making the best of the position, but it is clear that any disposition on their part to provide the way out would have to be based on a philanthropic attitude which is not encouraged by various other burdens borne by the business and industrial section of the community. If any lasting benefit is to be expected from private generosity it is more than conceivable that it will have to spring from efforts that are made universally rather than individually, and, as human nature does not reveal generosity en masse, -little assistance can be anticipated from that quarter. The final issue appears to rest with parliamentary legislation. The Government, through its basic wage provisions, is undeniably hindering fulfilment of its own educational ambitions, and if it cannot see its way clear to raise the age at which the wage has to be paid it should at least explore the possibilities of easing the position.