UNEMPLOYED BOYS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 19 January 1932, Page 4

UNEMPLOYED BOYS.

Serious as are the responsibilities of parenthood at any time they have, at the present juncture, acquired a gravity almost unequalled in our annals. The factor which has given this extra burden to the parental problem—the hopeless in so many cases of finding employment for boys. In most cases the leaving of school or college has presented to the students and the parents of the students the problem referred to, and for which so few can find an answer. To most the pecuniary aspect is the most important. Whatever the financial position of parents may be the factor of idleness is a most disturbing one. It applies to rich and poor and the perils it produces are so evident that there is no need to enumerate them here. The forces which govern the economic relations the world over have made it impossible for employment to keep pace with the demands made on it and a very large number of young would-be workers, through no fault of their own, are denied the opportunity to make a start in the competition called life. By the very circumstances of the time the problem, in most cases, must remain for the present unsolved. Sympathy will do little good. The problem must be attacked, and it is hoped, with more success than that in respect to adult unemployment. Idleness is a danger and if permanent employment is not obtainable, there is no reason why the body or mind should be idle. Boys out of work might attach themselves to Y.M.C.A. and Bov Scout activities. The guidance received in these and similai oiganisations for youth cannot be doubted. The Y.M.C.A. and Rotary joint committee has achieved a measure of success at the Penrose Camp and to ensure lasting success the scheme will require to be placed on a firmer and more or less permanent basis.