“A SPECIAL PROBLEM”

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1932, Page 4

“A SPECIAL PROBLEM”

WORKLESS BOYS IN ’TEENS.

SMITH-ANSELL SUGGESTION. S. “The problem of placing- boys of 17 to 20 years of age in employment is presenting special difficulties right throughout the Dominion,” states the report by Messrs. S. G. Smith and A. E. Ansell, M.’sP., on the problem of unemployment of boys in New Zealand. Employers, it has been found from investigation by the committee, are • dis-, inclined to take youths over'the age of, 16, the reason given being that the older boys have grown careless and, indifferent and are difficult to teach 'and hard to control and appear to resent the more elementary duties of the beginner. “We, however, appeal to employers not to prejudge nor to condemn, the older boys, and suggest that they are at least entitled to a fair trial,” states the committee. “The idea that these boys are failures should be combated as p evidence is not wanting that they are, where given a fair trial, making good. The position is not hopeless for these boys, as from their age they should naturally be better developed and more physically fitted to undertake farm work, and their case should. be substantially met by the . development schemes we have outlined elsewhere. In view of the difficulty we have outlined, we suggest that local organisations should concentrate on placing boys of from 17 to 20 years of age on farms.”