“THIS FREEDOM”

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 3 February 1931, Page 7

“THIS FREEDOM”

A HEADY DRAUGHT YVORKLHSS BOYS’ PERILS YOUNG .MEN’S PROBLEM Since Ist July, 1929, there have been no additions.to the stuff of tho Victorian railways. There are no details available as to entry of boys into private employment but obviously the annual conliirgent of boys from the Victorian schools must mean a big percentage addition to the unemployed. TWENTY—AND NEVER WORKED “This freedom,” writes tho “Argus,” “is a heady draught, for the young.” Glancing ut the Old Country, the “Argus” finds unemployment there to be even more a tragedy of the young than of the old. , ‘‘The consequences of the dole in England are a terrible warning of the evil that befalls a country which fails to grapple courageously with unemployment. Tho policy of Britain cannot lie judged by other standards, for tho war left her peculiar problems which no other country had to face. Nevertheless. tlie spectacle of thousands of young men in their twenties who have never worked, and who have lost all desire to work, shows how quickly the fire of youth may he reduced lo ashes in tlie vitiating atmosphere of indolence. Not only has the Stale to support such, droifes, either directly or indirectly, but it is deprived of their contribution to the pool of 'labour that ensures the progress of the community. No country, least of all a country in. the early stage of development, can afford to lie so prodigal witii its resources.” If tho employer cannot pay the prescribed wages for boys, of what use (asks the “Argus”) are those fixed wage-rates to the boy? “There may be lioro and there, even in this enlightened age, a niggardly and self-seeking employer who would take a mean advantage of an absence of binding provisions respecting the employment of hoys for the purpose of obtaining cheap labour. The isolated mischief lie might do would be insignificant compared with the benfils that would follow a sweeping reduction of the idle army of schoolboys who now face the future in despair. A common-sense revision, of standards which wore far too high even in times of plenty would herald the dawn of new hope for the boy and for his parents.’

WIIAT IS A TRAINEE WORTH? “If employers were permitted to do so they would willingly employ .more hoys than they need immediately, both out of sympathy for the lads and so that they might train workers for the tho day when . prosperity returns and then businesses flourish again. The way in which to place the engagement of more boys within the means of employers is simple; it lies in Ibe complete suspension of the prohibitive wage scales and irksome conditions which arc prescribed by prevailing arbitration awards and wages board determinations.” , . Contending that Parliament should consider the case of tho boys industrial conditions as being apart from and different to tho adult’s industrial conditions —unemployment being even more serious to tlie boy than to tlie adult —the “Argus” writes: “The period immediately all or a hoy’s schooldays is the most critical m his life. lie lias not completed Ins education ,as lie 100 often believes ho has. 1.1 is school has sought to equip him with means of self-discipline and a method of learning which will, if. ho employs them, enable him to continue to educate himself until bo dies. Releaso from school, however, gives the boys his first taste of liberty ; he is no longer compelled to undertake the drudgory of study, and his youthful high spirits are no longer chafed by rules and regulations which often appeared to him to be, designed for his special irritation and discomfiture. SCHOOL TRAINING UNDONE: “This freedom is a beady draught for the young. If the lad is not subject to daily discipline the work of his teachers may be undone in as many months as it required, years to do. His character may bo irretrievably undermined and his moral stamina sapped, and he may be condemned to lead for the rest of his life an aimless existence, a burden to himself and an encumbrance upon the community. These disastrous consequences can be avoided only in one way. Each year must open a sufficient number of avenues of useful employment. The community owes tins service to the boy in scarcely greater measure than it owes it to tho parents of the boy. Only parents know how "rent is the sacrifice which they make ?n order to furnish their boys with good education. No one else appreciates how bitter is their disappointment when they realise that their self-denial is in vain and when they sec that the son, upon whom they have founded such I,right hopes, has become dispirited and has deteriorated by reason of idleness.

Doctor (to former patient): “You certainly look much better. You must have followed my advice and had a cluuicc. ** Patient: I (lid. “Ah! Where did you go?” “I went to another doctor.”