TRAINING WAR WORKERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23861, 11 January 1941, Page 8

TRAINING WAR WORKERS

Great social good and military value can come out of the Government's scheme to train men for essential work. The immediate object is to fill the need for skilled workers on the industrial front to make munitions, but in peacetime as in war it will be a great gain if the surplus of the unskilled can be reduced by endowing more men with the qualifications demanded in the trades. It is a grave defect in the mobilisation of New Zealand man-power that to day, 16 months after the outbreak of war, the Government should still find it necessary to support many thousands of men on No. 13 scheme and unessential public works. Long before the war—four years ago, in fact —Ministers saw the need of lifting this heavy incubus from the nation's economy. Intentions were proclaimed and schemes announced from time to time, aiming at the transfer of labour into useful occupations by giving men the necessary training to take their place in trades and industries. A special case was that of the 6000 young men who lost the chance of apprenticeship in the great depression. But nothing came of all the talk and plans. Now the war has lent new urgency to the business and, even so, it was late last year before the first batch of 65 trainees as mechanics and welders entered classes in Wellington. In the other centres the scheme is still at the stage of preliminary discussion. This dilatoriness should be compared with British energy. Tens of thousands have already been trained for munition works there and present plans provide for a total output from training and technical schools of 250,000 workers a year. It may be hoped that, as a result of the discussions now opened in Auckland, sound training schemes will be devised and a real contribution made toward the needed supply of industrial workers.