"WANTED—A BOY."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15097, 13 September 1912, Page 5

"WANTED—A BOY."

THE TROUBLES OF FACTORY MANAGERS, NO LADS AVAILABLE. The position regarding the .scarcity of boy labour in Auckland, and indeed, in the whole of New Zealand, is becoming most serious, and factory managers and those extensively employing boys have despaired of solving one of the most difficult problems of the labour world. Some inquiries made yesterday by a. Hick am) representative show that the position is daily growing worse, and it is only ueccesary to watch the advertising columns of the newspapers to see what demand now exists for boys. One factory manager who was seen, took a most pessimistic view of tjie situation. "Let us get right back to the cause of it," he said. "In my opinion, there are too many avenues of pleasure for tho present-day boy. There is a tendency for living oil a higher plane nowadays, and this luifi been so inculcated into our youth, that nothing is good enough, for him. He cannot bo persuaded to take up an ordinary apprenticeship, with tho certainty of a good living all his days. He must go for the highwago from the timo ho leaves school, and often and often ho is left stranded in his early manhood, without a trado to fall back to. For after all, it is only a comparative few who succeed in tha higher business and professional world, and tho rest are left standing." "A remedy? Yes, . there is a remedy, and it lies with the. present Government to seize its opportunity and promote an immigration scheme which will embrace the relief of the shortage of boys. My suggestion is that the High Commissioner's office .should interest itself in the welfare of some of London's destitute boys. A few hundred of them could be obtained at once, and there you would have at any rate a temporary solution of tho problem."

Tho boy labour difficulty will bo one of the problems discussed at the forthcoming conference of the four provincial industrial Associations, and representations will probably be made to the Government in tho matter.