Youth's Handicap

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 584, 9 February 1929, Page 13

Youth's Handicap

EMPLOYMENT SCARCE MINISTER APPROACHED That immediate steps should be taken to face the problem of finding siutable employment for children about to leave school was the contention of a large and representative deputation which waited on the Minister of Education, the Hon. H. Atmore, this morning. The need for a loosening of the present apprenticeship regulations, and the 'training of children on more specialised vocational lines during their final school years were two of the principal suggestions made. In delivering a sympathetic reply, the Minister stressed the necessity of land settlement and the good that would accrue if this principle, was instilled in the minds of both children and parents. The members of the deputation represented the principal schools, children's welfare organisations, and business interests of Auckland. They were introduced by Mr. J. S. Fletcher, M.F.. who dwelt briefly on the importance of the question, and expressed the hope that the Flock House system would be put into operation in New Zealand immediately. He had been working on the scheme of trade schools, and had received a number of offers which would be placed before the authorities shortly. OUTSTANDING PROBLEM Describing the problem as the outstanding one facing the Dominion today, Mr. F. A. Garry, headmaster of the Mount Roskill {School, said that experience in Auckland showed the urgency of the situation. Time and again teachers were approached by parents, welfare officers and social workers generally. Probably the causes of the present difficulty were complex—economic, social, educational and political—and it was difficult to separate them. There had been an economic depression for the past two years, and unemployment among the adults had been followed by unemployment among the youth of the country. . It had been suggested that the Arbitration Act in its relation to apprentices required overhauling. This might or might not be so, but the fact remained that boys were finding difficulty in becoming apprentices. There were 'also the questions of immigration and the tendency for people to stick in the towns rather than go on the land. “Again, there is the competition among both boys and girls,” he continued. “This has become most marked of late years, and there is the question as to whether the domestic side of the girls’ education should not be stressed.” Referring to Mr. Atmore’s pronouncement on the question of the reorganisation of the educational system, he said that, in the opinion of many teachers, a great many children were seeking an education for which they were entirely unsuited. Differential courses were needed so that each child could secure the right sort of training. THE SOCIAL ASPECT This brought him to the social aspect of the problem. A new outlook on conditions of living, particularly in the country districts, was required. Children were entitled to some of the pleasures as well as the drudgery of life. In the city, officials saw to it that conditions for apprentices were suitable. But this was not always the case on the land, where supervision over the employment of boys could not be exercised, and conditions varied greatly according to the employers and their means. In the past there had been no suitable organisation to specialise on the employment of children. The Labour Department had made an attempt, but it had been futile. .Societies such as the X.M.C.A., the Young People’s League and the Rotary Club had done good work, but there had been no coordinated effort.

The deputation proposed that a special body be set up to act in conjunction with the Education Department. The department did good work by placing valuable information in the hands of the children, but at present it left it at that. The setting up, under the department, of an official committee representing all bodies interested, would make it possible to do something defiinite. Also there would be need for an officer in each centre who could coordinate the work of the department with that of the committee. “Such a committee count compile a register of children seeking employment and catalogue their attainments and requirements pending the time when they could be placed,” he added. BUSINESS VIEWPOINT Two years ago the problem came before the Chamber of Commerce, said Mr. A. G. Lunn. Since that time it had become intensified, and twelve months ago the chamber urged parents to keep their children at school rather than allow them to remain in idleness. It was the opinion of many that the present limitation of apprentices was among the many causes of the situation existing. If there could be some easing of the regulations he was satisflcid that good results would follow. Ministers had expressed the Government’s intention of tackling the land settlement problem, which he regarded as being of premier importance. Mr. Atmore: We are of the same opinion. We realise fully the need for such a policy. Mr. Lunn: I am delighted to hear that. He agreed that an After School Care Committee was needed badly. ELEMENTARY NEED In reply the Minister said the Government realised that the problem was the greatest that could face any Government. He felt that the position today was not a question of vocational guidance so much as the more elementary question of finding work of some sort. As someone had said in Wellington recently, it was not the finding of a square hole for a square peg, but the finding of the hole of any sort for a peg. Primary production was the mainstay of the country, and every man and woman in it. He went the whole distance with those who asserted that a bias had been given by the schools toward city work, and the result had been that £18,500,000 had been paid i last year in salaries to Governmentpaid people—more than New Zealand received for her wool and butter. New Zealand did not export a single thing he knew of that was manufactured in the towns, and it was vitally necessary that the industry of the land be fostered, upheld and increased. While a single area of land remained unoccupied there was room for land settlement—the only means by which the towns of the Dominion could make progress. MINISTER’S PROMISES He assured his hearers that there would be no delay in putting the Government’s land settlement scheme into operation. Such an undertaking could not be carried out immediately, but the Government appreciated fully the urgency of the case. In the meantime the immediate position would have to be met by palliatives. "The aptitude of a boy or girl must

bo considered during the last few years of their school lives,” he added. “I hope before the end of the month to state the future policy of the department, and I think I can promise that this feature will be considered.” He was in favour of the proposal to form a committee on the lines described by the previous speakers, and promised also to consider the problem of apprenticeship regulations.