NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1663, 1 February 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

A question which in New Zealand has not yet emerged from tho sphero of academic discussion, namely. tho devising of somo practical_ scheme whereby children may be guided into work for which they a r<i physically and temperamentally fitted, has been practically. tested in England in a way that appears, already to havo produced satisfactory results. Tho Education (Choico of Employment) Act of 1910 was tho first experiment in this direction, establishing a kind of basis upon which various other schemes haying tho same object in view have since been devised. Quite recently a scheme woiß drafted by tho Board of .Trado for tho constitution of. juvenile employment' advisory committees, and there aro now in London 19 of these bodies, representing in their personnel the education authorities and the labour exchanges. Already, somo 200,000 London school children who havo reached the working age have received ,advico_ which has resulted in their adoption of work for which they have shown, to the satisfaction of the committees, some degree bf aptitudo. In Manchester, tho scheme haß been carriod further, in a proposal for tho constitution of juvenile employment advisory, committees, representative of the education authority, tho teachers, the Trade, and Labour Council, and tho Labour Exchange officials. Provision is ialso made for consulting and advising parents. This, proposal still awaits t>he_ approval of the Board: of Education. \ Any . scheme which will; tend in its operation to turn the' interests and energies of the younger ■ generation—the citizens of to-morrow—into, congenial pursuits, must bo of great social and economic value. ' . . "■ ••'

: The meat-freezing oompaniea an-' nounced yesterday, through Sir, George Clifford, their inability tg, go boyo&d'th'eir" original concession, ,to tile slaughtermen, While the dispute is ono in. which nobody is competent to interfere between the parties, the public yet has an< interest in tho. speedy settlement of the dispute on an equitable basis. Both sidea have placed thoir cases before the public, and tho. slaughtermen have been afforded by the press unusually ample opportunities for producing their arguments. But tho public cannot but feel that'the men have not 'substantiated their claim, and havo merely taken advantage, of the mid-season expiry of the award to "bail up" the oompanies. ; They are quite entitled to do bo j no man, or body of men, should be prevented from using any orderly and ' legal means of securing higher wages. In the present ease the slaughtermen are demanding, a revision of the wagerate, which will add anything from' 255. to 30s. a week to the "current, high pay which they ■ reoeive, and they are accompanying the demand with insistehco upon , conditions which will make a close, corporation of' their union. Nor is there' any guarantee' that they , will not progressively enlarge their Remands in the future. Sir George Clifford's latest statement stands in need of no supporting commentary, but we may notice his calculation that the concession of the union's demands would involvo an additional burden of £100,000 a, year on the. agricultural community. We know, of course, that the people who' call themselves progressives are verv keen on pillaging the farmer and laying new burdens on the business of agriculture, but most people know that to _ burden agriculture is to s do an injury to tho • commonwealth. Even Mr. Lloyd-George, who is ."progressive" enough, has specifically admitted that. ./: '