CHILDREN IN FACTORIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 11 March 1943, Page 5

CHILDREN IN FACTORIES

POSITION STILL UNSATISFACTORY SCHOOL AGE SHOULD BE RAISED (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) Wellington, This Day. T can say frankly that it is not desirable that children under 14 years of age should work in factories,” said the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, in the concluding stages of the Address-in-Reply debate in the House of Representatives last night. He was replying to criticism by Mrs Grigg (Nat., Mid-Canterbury), who had complained in the same debate that children of tender years were working in various industries.

Mr Fraser said that he had looked into the matter and he had found that the number of children in factories had decreased over a number of years, but the position was not satisfactory. A Proficiency certificate had to be obtained by a child before it could be employed, but it was not difficult for a clever child to get it at thirteen years of age. Away back in 1925 provision had been made for the raising of the school age by Order-in-Council or by proclamation, but this had not been made effective. He hoped, however, that it would be done under a reconstruction. first to raise the age to 15 years and then to 16. It was clear that there could be no equality of opportunity without equality of educational opportunity for everybody If children went to a factory when they were of tender years they had not the same opportunities as others who left school at a later age. He had been concerned regarding criticism of high wages earned by children leaving school and getting into blind alley occupations, but he had been recently reassured by reports from the headmaster of a school, who had informed him that the roll for boys and girls was the highest on record arid that children were not wanting to leave school. The Minister of Educatioo. Mr H. G. R. Mason; ‘That has heen the experience of a number of other schools.” Mr Fraser said it was gratifying that that was so. It was evident that parents were taking advantage of educational opportunities available to their children and were determined to keep them at school.