DAY BY DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 92, Issue 14256, 6 January 1920, Page 4

DAY BY DAY.

Referring to the Royal Colonial Institute’s scheme Special Training for providing for training faciliTechnlcal Students, ties for over-

sea students in factories and works in the United Kingdom, Mr Morgan, Chairman of the Trades and Industries Committee, in a recent interview with a Times (London) representative, said: —“It is very essential that we should make every effort to keep foreign standards out of Empire industry. When the practices of a foreign firm are once introduced repeat orders for machinery usually go to the same firm. Knowledge of the practices becomes commonNn the locality where the machinery or goods are introduced,' and use of the foreign article and the maintenance and repairs thereof are an education in the use of foreign products and machinery. Electrical machinery may he taken as an example. If a foreign make of plant is installed at a mine or a group of mines the mine manager is hound to continue with the same make of machinery m order to solve with the least possible trouble and expense the question of extension, renewals, and repairs. The same remarks apply in a less degree to central station work for power and lighting throughout the Empire. One way of combating the introduction of foreign standards, in the opinion of the Committee, is to encourage Dominion and Colonial students to enter British factories, and to get their training there as apprentices and as engineers. American manufacturers have recently inserted advertisements in Australian newspapers offering to train on very attractive terms Australian young men as engineers and industrialists. It is to combat this propaganda that the Committee has taken up energetically the work of facilitating the coming of students from all the Dominions to this country, to gain their experience and training. What has been said of mines and power stations is almost equally applicable to almost every other 'industry. There is nothing to prevent all the Dominions and many of the colonies making gigantic strides in the establishment of manufacturing industries, and indeed the war has shown that it must be part of the policy of our Government to ensure the starting and growth of essential and key industries. It is the view of the Committee that every encouragement should be given to such a policy for the reason that the Empire will become strong in its defences and its economic structure in so far as its various units become self-supporting. As new industries will therefore be started all over the Empire it must be ail to our advantage to train the men who are going to run these industries, and thus establish permanent connections with the Mother Country and a proper appreciation of British products and of our industrial system.”