TECHNICAL CLASSES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12409, 29 August 1918, Page 3

TECHNICAL CLASSES.

CRITICISED BY MR J. KEIR.

DISCUSSION BY EMPLOYERS’

ASSOCIATION.

At the annual meeting of the Canterbury Employers’ Association last evening, an address was delivered by Air J. Koir on “ Apprentices and Technical Education,”

Mr Kcir said that the idealist doctrine was that the chief end of man was to admire, contemplate and adore, but the speaker'considered that, before ho did that he should learn to earn his own living honestly. The employers as a class were the nigger-drivers who kept other people working, but it was not often realised that to keep other people working was hard work 100. Dealing with the recent proposals to extend the compulsory attendance at school to the ages nJL seventeen and eighteen, Air Koir saufnliab it was not contended by any of the educational experts that this would make move diligent workers. There was a lot of talk about training (or leisure, but what the employers were interesicd in was the working hours. It was contended that wage-earning should bo postponed till later in life than was at present the ease, but in his experience if an individual did not earn his own living at eighteen lie was never likely to do so. Work was not an evil. The speaker thoroughly enjoyed it. To increase the wealth of New Zealand they must increase the diligence and the'number of workers. There must he a bigger percentage of useful people if aliens were not to be. imported. Referring to the proposal that employers should pay apprentice? for time spent at technical classes, tho speaker said the proposal would bo welcomed by tho official Labour Party, which regarded employers ns its natural enemies, but it was very questionable whether tho proposed training would ho the slightest use to industry. The teachers in the Technical Colleges were mostly schoolmasters who know nothing about tho trades that were-’taught. Air C-. T. Aschman: Quite incorrect. Air Koir, continuing, said ho had recently paid a visit to the Technical College, and as the matter was a technical one he had lo discuss it, not with the director, but with a journeyman in charge of a class. Tho silly talk of Technical School directors about the cruelty of sending working boys to night classes was doing a great deal of harm, and was positively wicked. It was found by tho speaker’s firm that attendance at night classes kept the boys off the streets and brought them into contact with acquaintances of a good stamp. Alany apprentices acted as helpers to skilled men, and if the apprentice were absent the skilled man would have to stop work too. The training in technical colleges at present was not efficient nor comprehensive. Only two or threo trades were dabbled with. It was becoming impossible to get apprentices for the dirty jobs like blacksmithing and moulding. Tho technical schools did not teach those highly important trades, but confined their attention to nice dean jobs like fitting and turning. Compulsory attendance at school up to tho sixth standard was quite necessary. It was a sin that children should leave school at the fourth standard. New Zealand, which could never hope to compete against tho cheat) labour of older countries in manufacturing industries, should pay more attention to the primary industries. Summing up. the speaker said that the sooner the technical schools gave up their unsuccessful attempt to teach handicrafts the better. He moved a resolution affirming that the proposal that employers should bo compelled to allow apprentices to attend day technical training classes was impracticable and against the best interests of the Daminion.

Mr .1. A. Black seconded the motion, and said that, while the theory of a trade could bo taught well m schools, the practical work could best ho learned by doing it in an ordinary workshop. He suggested as an addition to the resolution an affirmation that night classes should be attended by apprentices for four hours a week, and that every apprentice passing a satisfactory examination after throe years should bo granted a wages bonus of 3s a. week in tho fourth year and 5s in the fifth voar.

Mr George Scott said the matter was too important to he settled that evening. Tho association should devote a whole evening to its discussion. Air A. W. Jamieson took a similar view, and moved an amendment that the resolution should ho dealt with at a special meeting devoted to the discussion of educational matters.

The amendment was discussed at considerable length, after which Air Koir replied, stating that he had no objection to a postponement of the discussion. He desired also to explain that he did not attack technical naming, but opposed the eight hours a week of it proposed by the director of the Auckland Technical CollegeThe discussion was accordingly adjourned.