TECHNICAL TRAINING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22198, 27 August 1935, Page 10

TECHNICAL TRAINING

YOUNG PEOPLE'S RIGHTS CHEAP LABOUR NOT INVOLVED "I am utterly opposed to the employment of young people in the place of adults, but 1 do believe that they should have the opportunity to be trained, and anyone who opposes this training assumes a very great responsibility,'' said Mr. J. A. C. Allum, president of tho Auckland Manufacturers' Association, and chairman of tho Seddon Memorial Technical College Board of Governors, yosterday, in commenting on the decision of 20 trades unions to protest to the Government against any attempt to securo cheap labour by the introduction of legislation providing for trainees instead of apprentices.

Mr. A Hum said the Manufacturers' Association would be no party to any proposal which had for its object tho substitution of boy labour, and he knew of no case where any individual manufacturer was attempting anything of the kind. Personally, he held the view that every young person had the right to the opportunity to be trained for the trade or calling which he or she selected. In the trades the best training was obtained by a combination of apprenticeship and technical education. In recent years, however, many young people had not been able to find employers ablo or willing to apprentice them, and those should have the opportunity for full training at a technical or trades school.