ARMY OF UNEMPLOYED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20760, 31 December 1930, Page 8

ARMY OF UNEMPLOYED.

PROBLEM IN AUSTRALIA.

CHILDREN FROM SCHOOL

NEARLY . 50,000 IN TWO STATE 3,

[FROM > OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] SYDNEY. Dec. 24.

Australians have become accustomed to facing tremendous problems," but^fhis does not make their solving any easier. For instance, the best brains of the country, just now are unable to suggest how the country is going to find jobs for the thousands of boys and girls who have, just finished their schooling. In normal years the problem is difficult enough, but in existing circumstances its magnitude is increased fourfold. The Australian youth of to-day is faced with' a world entirely out of joint.. In New South Wales , alone the number of children who have completed their primary education without any prospect of secondary education is 26,000. In V ictoria the number is at least 20.000. Their ambitions are blocked by the state of the labour • market. The .Minister of Education in New South Wales, Mr. Davies, is greatly concerned, for he fears that boys who are idle will drift into criminal ways and end up in gaol—some of them that is.

Mr. Davies has appealed to parents to allow their children, where possible, to remain for at least another year at school, but it is pointed out that the difficulty in another twelve months would then be greater than it is to-day because of the huge carry-over. Owing to the state of trade many boys who had been apprenticed have been put off. For the benefit of these the Minister proposes to Btart day classes, the time spent in these classes to be counted as part of their apprenticeship. There are many boys who have no desire to enter a trade or profession. They will be catered for by the establishment of camps. All -the camps will be in the country and the boys will be employed in clearing scrub lands ready for settlement. The Government, it stated, would.employ all the apprentices'it could and it would appeal to the other employers to do likewise. Special schools would be established to train girls in domestic science and homecraft generally. To the careful observer it> does not seem that these proposals will go very far toward solving the problem. Many believe that the most practical suggestion is that the compulsory school age should be raised at least another two years. Of course, this would add greatly to the State's bill for education, already somewhat out ot proportion to the revenue. It has been suggested in Melbourne that the education authorities of all the States should meet in the hope of being able to devise some practical scheme. In Melbourne the extension of the school age is favoured with the provision that the government should provide free all requisites so that the extended school term would not become a burden on the parents.