BOY LABOUR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2143, 8 May 1914, Page 7

BOY LABOUR

HANDICAP TO EDUCATION. • A';stato of affairs intimately concern-•inc-tho welfare of boys attending school was touched'upon in the- report presented by tlie Mount Cook School Committee to tho annual meeting of householders Inst evening. Tho committee quoted tho following report recently made by Mr. C. Bary, • headmaster, and recommended tho subject-matter to tho eai'nost consideration of parents:— "The term examination was held, and tho results in all classes were satisfactory. In connection with this work, I . should like to bring under your notico a point that has given all the teachers great concern. There is a large amount of boy labour in the city, and r have found in one class alone thirtythree and a third per cent, of tho boys who rise at from 3 to '4 a.m. to deliver milk. "Some of these boys come late to school, and beforo tho day is over' they aro nearly asleep over their lessons. A second matter which demands attention is tbo Jate coming of boys who sell morning newspapers. This late coming means loss of tho arithmetic lessons, and conscqontly failuro in tho . standard. Whilo I stand by my staff -m their difficulty, I should bp tho last nidn to raise a voico against boys assisting their parents by earning some portion of their keep; but as education is a boy's birthright, and ns it is free, naturally, tho boy is deprived of something wholly his."