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Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19129, 25 September 1936, Page 13

B_ selling fruit and other Island products to passengers on vessels calling at Pitcairn, a young native of that historic island collected his fare to New Zealand. He claimed on his arrival in the Dominion recently that he was a melober of the crew of one of the four

sailing boats that made the famous .trip of 150 miles to Henderson Island to procure miro wood, which is used for making souvenirs for sale to tour- ‘ ists. The Story of that dreadful voyage ■V i 3 an epic of the sea. The Islander naturally had no trade, nor has he a knowledge of any sort of industry or farming. He had had no experience of milking, pointing out with a smile .that the cows on Pitcairn reposed in tins. .However, the labour placement office has arranged with a Wairarapa dairy farmer to emnloy him and to teacli him f -thoroughly the dairying business.

The assertion that men who have been away from their old trades during the depression period are capable of taking up their tools and going on from where they left off, without loss of skill, was characterised by a Gisborne builder today as “pure tommy-rot.’’ He stated that while many men could regain their old skill if given time to adjust themselves, there were many former tradesmen who could never recover their footing as skilled journeymen. In his own experience, the builder said, a short absence from his accustomed activity took toll of his speed and skill, and lie had to work up to, “concert pitch” again. The man who could come back to his trade after two or three years on other work, and immediately recover his value as a journeyman, would be exceptional, he considered. On the other hand, given a reasonable period in which to accustom himself to his job, a well-trained man eventually should become rehabilitated in bis trade.