THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1928. CHOICE OF A CAREER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20080, 18 October 1928, Page 12

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1928. CHOICE OF A CAREER.

There is good reason for the criticism of the Education Department's pamphlet on "Vocational Guidance" uttered at the meeting of the Board of Education yesterday. To issue a publication of the kind was an excellent idea, and when it was mooted last year there was expressed a general hope that tho parents and guardians of pupils completing their primary courses, and also the pupils themselves, would find it of great value. When it appeared, it was found to contain much accurate information. It gave clear descriptions of the various types of post-primary schools and conveyed helpful instruction concerning the regulations governing admittance to these and concerning the opportunities they offered. Further, it covered a large number of occupations in detail, outlining the main economic facts about them, the educational requirements on entry, and the facilities they presented for advancement to their most responsible and lucrative positions. A great deal of cave was evident in tho compilation of data. The criticism now offered does not lie so much against what the pamphlet contained as against what it did not contain. In a few particulars its survey called for slight amendment ; but in its almost entire avoidance of the mention of agriculture and its magnifying of the attractions of professional pursuits it failed to give a lead just where that lead is most desirable. Beyond a passing reference to tho few secondary schools that provide good courses in agriculture "suitable for boys who intend to engage in farm work," an epitome of the preparation for rural pursuits given in district high schools and other agricultural institutions, and the inclusion of "gardener" in the list of vocations discussed, it was practically devoid of reference to the main industry of the Dominion. It might have been written for a country almost wholly dependent on the development of its manufacturing industries and composed chiefly of towns inhabited by commercial and professional people. The request that it shall be revised, with a view of giving prominence to primary occupations, is well based.

The criticism would not have erred had it gone further than a complaint of the neglect of farming pursuits. Again and again, in the pamphlet's notes on particular occupations, there is mentioned "indoor work" among their "advantages." Often, "clean, light, indoor work" appears under this head ; and "no physical strain" and "no lost time through bad weather" share with "regular indoor employment" distinction as allurements. A "healthy outdoor life" is offered, it is true, to the boy wishful to be a bricklayer, and the budding gardener is of course promised a ''healthy, congenial, outdoor occupation," while an implied deterrent to becoming a moulder is presented in "interesting indoor work, but dirty." This is a half-pennyworth of bread in an intolerable deal of sack. As a guide book, the pamphlet shows quite well how to avoid becoming a farmer. Its compilers may «plead that they left to the Department of Agriculture the task of presenting the claims of rural pursuits; but their inclusion of a reference to Ruakura and to the department controlling it shows that they felt no compulsion to refrain altogether from mention of these pursuits, arid they would have been better advised to have made their manual, expressly dealing with "the choice of a career," complete with the collaboration of that department. When the pamphlet is revised as it should be, such a collaboration should be sought. It is incongruous that, in its present form, so scant attention is given to farming, which surely offers a "career" in a. country predominantly agricultural. This the figures in the closing tables of the pamphlet naively admit, as they show that agricultural and pastoral industries employ the largest number of males under 21 (551) and over 21 (2505) per 10,000 employed in all groups of workers, and that men and women farmer!), to say nothing of farm labourers and others engaged in various rural pursuits, number 1535 per 10,000 of the Dominion's breadwinners, according to the 1921 census. There has been, from time to time, public reference to the sea sense partially possessed by the people of this Dominion, and to tho air sense that they have been slow to acquire. What is needed above either is a land sense. There is a prejudicial drift to the towns, and soft-handed occupations are at a premium in general regard. To sot before our youth the high service they may render, as well as the place they may win for themselves, in becoming skilled farmers, is a plain duty in all venturing to give vocational guidance. The eflicient cultivation of our abundant acres must begin in the minds of our young people. Land settlement policies are incomplete and hopeless without this. Of what avail is it to have land available for settlement if nobody wants to settle on it? Even supposing you could drive tho boy to the land, you cannot force him to farm. He must bo led to esteem this career and to prepare for it; and first in .all occupations presented to his notice this one should always clearly and impressively be placed. Those responsible for tliis pamphlet would do well to recall it, and to prepare immediately—for use at the approaching end of the school year —a revision in which pastoral and agricultural pursuits are given their rightful place.

PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH. The tone of the speech delivered in Christchurch by the Prime Minister last evening makes it in several ways an advance on the otlicial party announcements heard before it. Mr. Coates has no apologies to make either for the condition of the country or for the Government. He recognises no need to apologise. Further, he brings a tone of reality into an argument that up to the present has consisted very largely of vague generalities and sweeping assertions. What the Prime Minister claims to be true he supports with definite detailed figures, not with the summarised and often only half-understood quotations from official statistics which have held the field until now. It is all very well for critics to attack the Government —that is their business, especially in an election campaign—but until they can produce evidence as detailed and as specific as that which the Prime Minister has quoted, until they can show as much substance on their side as he does on his,, their case must be classed not proven. ] t is unfortunate for the prophets of woe that the import and export figures, and the production returns Mr. Coates recites, the banking position to which he refers, are unanimously against their theories, but those are the facts, as stubborn as ever. The best illustration of official figures and general charges is. however, provided by the position regarding abandoned holdings. The thousands of these alleged to exist have often been heard of, but the actual number of thousands has never been specified. The Prime Minister shows how, in one sense, such allegations arc safe, because there is no complete record of abandonments. He shows in another how it would certainly puzzle the critics to substantiate their charges. The holdings under tenure direct from the Crown, concerning which there are complete records, number over 29,500. The surrenders and forfeitures annually for (he last five years have averaged 1.107 per cent.., and of these a number have been voluntary surrenders in order that the same holding might be taken up under a different tenure. In the worst year under the present Government, the proportion was 1.533 per cent. In 1910, under the old regime the figure was 1.551 per cent. Theso statistics do not, of course, give a complete picture of the movements in rural land. They do, however, afford a valuable indication from which it is reasonable to deduce that if the prophets of evil were asked to give chapter and verse for their bold assertions, their tones would moderate. The figures finally show how Mr. Coates is the only leader so far to have handled conditions in New Zealand as one with a grip of the situation. That is the outstanding feature of his opening speech.