EXUBERANCE OF YOUTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19658, 9 June 1927, Page 12

EXUBERANCE OF YOUTH.

THE NEED FOE DISCIPLINE. APPRENTICES' OBLIGATIONS. CURBING SCHOOLBOY SPIRIT. "NOT GENERAL MANAGERS." [BV TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WELLINGTON, Wednesday. Pointing out that he was prepared to make allowances for the exuberance of youth, Mr. Justice Frazer in the Arbitration Court to-day drew attention to the obligation® owed by apprentices to their employers. Some boys, he said, appeared to hav? an exaggerated opinion of their own importance and the sooner they disabused themselves of that idea the better. The case was one in which Fred. Cornish appealed against his dismissal from the Wellington Patent Slip Company. Cornish, it was stated, was dismissed under section 15 of the Apprentices Act, 1923, which gives an employer the right to dismiss an employee on the ground of misconduct or incapacity ©r inefficiency. His Honor, in reviewing the case, said the reasons for the dismissal of Cornish were numerous, one being insubordination. The Court was always prepared to make allowance for lads being high spirited. "Boys will be boys," he said, "but there is a limit to that sort of thing. We cannot allow a boy to upset everything simply because he is a boy. A lad may be allowed a certain amount o£ latitude in his early days, but as he gets older he should give up his boyish ways and show some sense of responsibility. Exaggerated Sense of Value. "There is also a complaint that this lad is unreliable," continued Mr. Justice Frazer. "He has not displayed that degree of reliability and responsibility the management are entitled to expect. It is also alleged that he was frequently late for work. Apparently he has an exaggerated sense of his own importance, an,d he seems to think that he can do more or less as ha likes, and that he can come hero and talk very glibly 4 and get out of it. That sort of thing will not go down with the Court. "There seems to be an impression in his mind that because he is an apprentice he has a sure job for five years, and tlmfc he could afford to defy those in authority. The contract does not mean that an apprentice is sure of his job. It means that he has a five years' job if he conducts himself properly and learns his work in a proper manner and shows reasonable capacity and efficiency. It is just as well that apprentices should bear that in mind." The Court, added His Honor, was always prepared to make allowance for high-spirited boys. If, however, there was repeated lack of a sense of responsibility then there was no option but dismissal. In the present case the Court could not allow the appeal, but it was of opinion that when a lad was in his fifth. year of his apprenticeship it was rather hard that he should be deprived of the opportunity to continue the occupation he desired. A Lesson to Others. c The manager of the Patent Slip Company, Mr. J>mieson, said he agreed with His Honor. He would be sorry to see the experience the lad had gained thrown away. However, he thought he had been taught a lesson and he was prepared to consider engaging him again. His Honor: I am glad you put it that way, Mr. Jamieson. I hope this will be a lesson to him and to others. "You may think we have been rubbing it in," said His Honor to Cornish. "You have probably not realised just what your place is in the scheme of things. The sooner a young man realises that he is not general manager of the whole works the better it will be for him and everybody else."