Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. MONDAY, JULY 16th., 1928. BOYS’ EMPLOYMENT

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 July 1928, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. MONDAY, JULY 16th., 1928. BOYS’ EMPLOYMENT

yiiE reports from various Do-

minion centres of the number of lads who cannot find employment on leaving school, should cause serious attention to be given to this problem. It would be a grave reflection on the country if at this early stage, young New Zealanders were unable to find demand for their services in their own land, and were compelled to look elsewhere. It is imperative that the lads should not be left.to develop an out-of-work habit, at the starting of their careers, as the fruits of that enforced idleness might prove disastrous to them and to the country.

A few years ago, there was a difficulty to secure intelligent lads in sufficient quantities to meet the employers’ demand, but the labour supply has developed quicker than the resources of utilisation. Every year, thousands of lads leave the primary and secondary schools seeking employment, and unless

new avenues whqrein Io engage their services are discovered, a

serious crisis must develop in a few years, especially in the smaller towns. Nor are young girls in a much happier position than the boys, as even for domestic service, there are nowadays plenty of applicants for what work is offering. Tliis latter tendency is to be welcomed. and this “back to housework’/’ movement should be of con-, siderable assistance to harassed mot hers.

I n employment among adults has admittedly first claim on Minis-

terial attention, but the growing evil of juvenile unemployment should not be permitted to go on unchecked. The experiences since the war in the Homeland demonstrate what social and economic ills are wrought when, youths cannot find work, their hours of idleness loading, too frequently, to disas-

Irons habits. Some will never become “employable.” New Zealand must determine to avoid that sort of thing for her own lads. The solution of the problem will not be easy. The. industries of the Dominion must be greatly developed before any real alleviation can come, and some of Ihe ment given to the young migrants from Britain must be extended to those burn in this country. The occupations found for the lads at the beginning of their working careers must not be of the “blind alley” description, as that “cure” would be worse than the disease. Nor must attention be directed solely to land, as the demand for labour on farms will be increasingly lessened by machinery developments. Closer settlement, with more intensive cultivation methods, can absorb much labour, and provide virile young New Zealanders with healthy and remunerative occupation, but whilst the price of land and money is so high, it is difficult to see how the very desirable closer settlement is to be brought about. In the'towns, the professions are already overcrowded, with every year witnessing a fnrthet rush by lads to enter offices, where the conditions are thought by them to be superior to’ those in factories or shops. The seed being thus sown must ultimately bring forth a harvest of disappointment, and parents would be wise to impress the prospects upon youthful enthusiasts. The trades and shops are reported to be difficult to enter. Some employers blame the high wages as cause of inability to place applicants whilst some trades, such as engineering, appeal most to lads, and entry into those works becomes severely competitive. The task of the statesman and social reformer is not to find scapegoats for the evil of juvenile unemployment, but to frame a remedy. The co-operation of the trades unions should be sought, and a conference held at an early date to discuss the whole question, whilst there is yet time to keep the difficulty within due bounds.