TO-MORROW’S MANHOOD

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17080, 8 July 1926, Page 7

TO-MORROW’S MANHOOD

AMONG THE BOYS OF TO-DAY. THEIR. AIMS AND AMBITIONS. SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS tSpccia) to the Herald.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. A budget of interesting facts and figures referring to the trades, professions, and hobbies favored by Christchurch hoys was presented to a meeting of the Canterbury Builders’ Association. It embraced an area within a radius of ten miles from the General Post Office. Mr. W. 11. Winsor reported on the annual visit of the authorities of the Boys’ Gordon Hall to the primary schools. The object, lie said, was to inculcate in tlie boys of the sixth standard a desire to continue their education at a secondary school, or at a recognised night school.' During the annual visits, said Mr. Winsor, various statistics were collected from the boys by cards which they filled in. The 1921 census disclosed that carpentering was the trade in New Zealand employing the largest number ci' men, omitting farmers and farm laborers, which industry held little, interest lor city children. ' The average standard six lad placed carpentering high as a trade. Gut of every ICO, 60 boys voted in favor of earpentery as their 1 trade. In New. Zealand the' engineers totalled 5000, and 33 boys decided on engineering, and 3000 mechanics in New Zealand were to be followed by 27 lads. ONLY ONE. LAWYER.

A report, on the annual visit, stated that a bright future for the Dominion was indicated by the fact that in 1926 only one boy in 632 expressed a desire to be a lawyer. There are 1700 cabinetmakers in the Dominion, and thirteen boys have this preference. Noteworthy omissions from the list are professions such as that, of clergymen, where an altruistic motive is the guiding force. Altruism has not yet developed in the boy of this age. Only five boys in 600 expressed a desire to be clerks, while none expressed a desire to be an unskilled laborer, yet. New Zealand lias 18,010 clerks and 27,000 laborers.

Boys leaving school with a desire to enter a trade find the trade full at the time, owing to the necessity for having three master workmen fo each apprentice. The result is that, the disappointed boys drift into the first vacancy, which is generally an unskilled position. The boys’ Gordon Hall is always receiving the names of boys desiring to enter a trade, but often no trade was open for him. The future holds a certainty of a greater shortage of master workmen, owing to the three to one rule operating. The remedy will be the importation of skilled labor at tho expense of our own youth, who will be the unskilled labor of the country. Is it a fair proposition? EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT.

To test the influence of environment in suggesting the kind of employment a boy should look forward to, some areas were grouped and averaged. In working out the, figures Merivale and St. Albans were grouped as being mainly the home of professional people. The result was that the percentage entering trades from that district- was 6(. Ibis is too high when one takes into account the number of boys attending private schools in that area,” continued the report, “and also the fact that, pnxnte schools produce an exceptionally barge percentage of professional men; hut whether one makes this allowance or nob the figures are startling enough when compared with the East Christchurch, Addington and Svdenhan area, where an average of 88 per cent desires to enter a trade.” Onlv 22 boys admitted having no interest-' in anv sport. Of 600 boys, 400 claimed football as their chief sport Cricket was followed by 255 boys and swimming bv 126. In 1924, 60.3 pei cent of the ‘bovs in the sixth standard could swim, the 1925 figures showed that 64 per cent then were proficient. BOY'S WITHOUT HOBBIES. Other sports claiming the attention of boys were hockey 41, tennis 38, athletics 32, boating 12, boxing ten, fishing eight, cycling eight, shooting four, motor racing two, gymnastics two, and horse racing one. It was pointed out- as a regrettable fact that 153 boys out of 513 had no hobby. A total' of 166 boys claimed stamp collecting as their favorite hobby; 76 kept pets, 57 specialised in gardening, 50 were pigeon 'fanciers, 48 wonQin for wood-working, wireless claimed 36, engineering 24, and eleven spent their spare tune with photography. Minor hobbies v<ere collecting coins, fretwork, painting, picture collecting, the cinema, music, and tin modelling. One lad claimed “trotters” as his main hobby. Mr. Winsor remarked: “We have a fine type of boy here, but we cannot make use of him. We must do something for the boys who will take our places.”