TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. FRIDAY, 23rd JULY. 1937. IDLE YOUNG MEN.

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 55, Issue 3930, 23 July 1937, Page 4

TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. FRIDAY, 23rd JULY. 1937. IDLE YOUNG MEN.

EACH representative discussion of the employment of youth problem gives further emphasis to the fact that the true solution will be found only in mutual co-operation between the Government, the employers and the industrial unions. Co-operation, if 'it is to be effective with the minimum of industrial dissension, will have to be marked by concessions on all sides, including amendment of existing restrictive legislation. This phase of the problem as affecting a great number of unemployed youths who could not secure apprenticeship to skilled trades during the economic depression and are now compelled to depend either on sustenance pay without work or a "blind alley” occupation with little or no prospect of advancement, was referred to at a meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday night. Though no detailed plan was available for discussion, Mr R. H. Nimmo, the principal speaker, recalled the promise of the acting Prime Minister, Hon. P. Fraser, to provide for greater flexibility in the regulations concerning the employment of youths-. As a direct result of the chamber's activities, the Minister of Labour and his department had obtained a clear insight into the whole question and would be in a position to place amending legislation before Parliament with a view to re medying hardships under which the youth of New Zealand are now suffer-

ing. Such amendments undoubtedly will deal with the existing limitations regarding the apprenticeship of young men and the granting of under-rate permits to untrained workers in skilled industries. "We must be patient,’ said Mr Nimmo, “because there is a limit even to the powers of Cabinet Ministers.” In other words, amended legislation providing greater flexibility might not be effective if the in-

dustrial unions were not agreed upon the necessity for it in regard to the employment of more apprentices or even older under-rate workers. In other countries where a similar problem in respect of idle youths

lias been tackled with some success, the skilled worker who has served his apprenticeship, lias resented dilution of his industry as a menace to his earning power and standard of living, regarding the adult trainee

as a cheap form of labour. This suspicion has made itself felt in New Zealand. The difficulty is clearly realised by the Chamber of Commerce, as

also by all potential employers. The assurance given at tlie Wellington meeting that there is no desire to reduce wages should prompt a conciliatory spirit on the part of the unions. The position is much too serious for stiff-necked attitudes. True co-opera-tion in the right spirit ought to overcome many difficulties.