UNEMPLOYED YOUTHS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19376, 14 July 1937, Page 3

UNEMPLOYED YOUTHS

TRADE OPPORTUNITIES APPRENTICESHIP SCHEME CONFERENCE AT GISBORNE Energetic measures to meet one of the most difficult problems left by the depression period are to be instituted in this district with a conference on Fridav at which manufacturers will discuss with the inspector of awards and the placement officer for the district, Messrs. J. McKessar and P. Hockley, the possibility of finding openings for youths between the ages of 18 and 25 years to complete apprenticeships in the various trades.

Legislation passed during the last session of Parliament gave power to the Minister of Labour to approve of special apprenticeship conditions, with a view to securing the training of young men who had lost their natural opportunities of being absorbed into trades, owing to the incidence of the slump..

These special conditions can be approved. too, in the cases of young men who commenced apprenticeships, but. were unable to complete their training owing to the lack of work on which they could be employed. The present dearth of skilled tradesmen is an acute handicap to business in the country, and from the point of view of employers and trades organisations alike, it appears to be essential that the young men of the country who have had no chance of qualifying as artisans should be given the opportunity for the future.

To give .effect to the legislation covering special contract apprenticeships, committees arc* being formed in cvetv city and large town in the Dominion, and it is proposed that Friday’s meeting should lead to the commencement of committee work in Poverty Bay.

Of 1000 workers registered with the Gisborne placement office, there are 46 between the ages of 18 and 25 years, suitable for employment in industrial trades, the district placement officer stated to-day.