UNEMPLOYMENT

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 16 June 1928, Page 8

UNEMPLOYMENT

TREND OF EDUCATION. ANOTHER PHASE OF THE PROBLEM. BANK CHAIRMAN'S COMMENTS (Special To The Star.) WKLEiNGTON, June 15. Disc ussing unemployment in the course of his address to Shareholders at the annual meeting of the Bank of New Zealand to-day, the chairman, Sir George Elliott, stated : . I have no - remedi-ail ■ scheme to offer in regard to this great industrial problem, common to all parts of the world, but X would draw attention to one phase of New Zealand conditions that bears on the subject, and does not, 1 think, receive the consideration it deserves. The officaail year book tells us that, according to the last census o r f 1921, tlie total number of breadwinners in blue Dominion numbered 593,000, and of that number 152,000 were engaged in primary production. It also, tells us that, according to the latest available figures, 1925-20, the total production for tlie year amounted to £116,000,000. To this total primary producers contributed £82,000,000, and tlie product of factories, building operations, and la.boureins’ work contributed £34,000,000. It thus appears that primary producers, being less than one-third of the breadwinners, contributed more than two-thirds towards the national wealth while the two-thirds engaged in all other occupations contributed less than one-third. ’

In making this record it is probable the Government statistician lias not added ..persons employed in .freezing, butter factories, or transport, who are as necessary to the farmer as is the ploughman or the shepherd. Be that as it may, the figures are arresting, and make one- wonder why primary production doc® not, or cannot, absorb a greater proportion of tlie population, and so decrease an some degree- the ranks of the unemployed. Protection by customs tariffs, "Conciliation and Arbitration Courts, all tend to smooth out the difficulties of breadwinners engaged in secondary occupations ; our education system also fosters the idea of secondary occupations or professional careers. Our secondary industries, important as they are, have practically no export trade —■ having supplied local requirements they can go no further. Employment or unemployment in these industries depends on the buoyancy or otherwise of primary production. These- difficulties do not exist to the same extent with tlie primary producer, who, although lie-has his slaielcsea-sens, can always dispose of his produce overseas, and, with capital and labour available, can carry on mo-re extensive and intensive cultivation. The trouble at the moment is that the majority of boys leave school with their i noli nation s tending away from a farming occupation and towards- the seemingly easier and apparently betterpaid work of the city. Furthermore, I think that in the 1 praiseworthy endeavour to- bring secondary education within the reach of every hoy and girl a mistake is made in not demanding a much 'higher state of efficiency before they are passed, on to the higher grade school. T suggest that the trend, of teaching should have -a -decided ibi'a-s towards primary production and all it means to the nation and the individual.