THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1928. FROM SCHOOL TO WORK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20114, 27 November 1928, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1928. FROM SCHOOL TO WORK.

No question more urgently presses for attention than that raised yesterday before tho Rotary Club by Mr. Garry on behalf of tho Educational Society—tho absorption of tho products of our schools in tho ranks of tho workers. This question acquires a, special degree of importance at this time of the year, when so many young folk aro completing their school course and seeking employment ; but it is always moro or less important. It is not tho mere question of finding enough places; it includes tho finding of suitable places, in which tho young folk shall have employment fitting their individual aptitudes and contributory to the national well-being. Tho lastnamed consideration ought not to be overlooked. It takes account of the

various pursuits composing the aggregate of occupations, and tho necessity that each of them shall be adequately but not extravagantly supplied with workers, so that all the requisite industries and professions may proceed with ordered efficiency, like the. related parts of a well-con-trived machine. The question is by no means one of simple arithmetic—so many pupils finishing their school life and so many places to bo found for them. There might bo quite enough places, but they might not bo of the sort in which the young folk could find work for which they were fitted. Even if they were constrained to occupy these places and wcro tolerably adaptable, there would still bo a considerable failure to reach full economic efficiency, taking the total product of their toil. As a matter of fact, a certain amount of idleness is usually preferred to uncongenial or unsuitablo employment, so that, whether occupying the places or not, these ill-suited young folk represent a tax on national wealth. To have a duo coordination between the supply of labour, in quantity and variety, on the one hand, and the demand for it in the industries and professions, on tho other, is as difficult as it is desirable.

A painstaking diagnosis of the trouble is the first need. When once this is begun, it will be realised that tho CUU3Q of it is manifold. There can be dismissed at once, of course, any suggestion that the supply of adolescent labour is excessive in the aggregate, having regard to the extent of the natural resources of the country that call for development. No ono dare advance tho thesis that this Dominion would be better off with fewer boys and girls. Yet conditions are such that something like that thesis has been advanced in a piecemeal application of it to this or that industry. Let it be suggested that the number of apprenticeships in any industry be increased, and immediately complaint would be made that this was bound to push some adult out of work—in effect, that too many apprentices would be coming in. That is all very well as a pica from a particular industry. Applied to all. it amounts to a complaint that children are being bred too fast. A little thought, about this aspect of the matter brings the conviction that the problem is at bottom one of economics. There is something radically wrong when, in a country so blessed by nature and as yet so sparsely peopled, difficulty is met in finding employment for boys and girls as they leave school. It is not merely a matter of inappropriate preparation in the schools. There is a serious maladjustment of supply and demand in the sphere of adolescent labour. To open up sufficient avenues of employment for the young folk is quite as crucial as to provide work for the adult unemployed. A little relief may have been got during this year by the return of some of them to school ; but this, it ought not to be forgotten, added to the burden borne by many an adult, and in any event this way of relief is of only temporary service. There is an additional pressure of the problem now because that way was too readily taken. Even a year's respite could only prove still more impressively the need to get back to economic conditions.

Inquiry into ibis remoter region should be undertaken by (he investigating committee which it is proposed to set up. This portion of the inquiry, indeed, might with advantage he remitted to a sub-committee qualified to handle economic questions. Then the question of adapting education and employment to each other should bo examined by those capable of reviewing the situation as it is forcing itself on attention at present. On the side of industry, there is something that can be done without waiting for the outcome of full economic investigation : a little elasticity might be introduced in the engagement of apprentices. Half a loaf is better than tio bread ; and some give and take ought to be shown in nn effort to case tho pressure felt just now by many families. Rightly managed, such a modification should not entail disability anywhere. It should be deemed, of course, merely tentative, pending the outcome of the economic inquiry. On the educational Ride, something a good deal better than the measure of vocational guidance offered by the Education Department should he possible. It is apparent that insufficient. care is being given to the imparting of a right bias in education. The professions tend to be-

come overcrowded j agriculture is failing to attract. So far as parents are concerned, the blame does not belong to any one class: labouring folk, for example, are as eager as any others that their children shall be saved from soiling their hands. To restoro a respect for honest work of any sort —to restore it among working peoplo themselves—has become a necessity. With this as a foundation, the adapting of educational methods to industrial requirements can be hopefully attempted. It is an achievement toward which the committee'}) deliberations should be capable of leading the authorities.