"BAD SYMPTOMS."

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2772, 16 May 1916, Page 3

"BAD SYMPTOMS."

YOUTH _0F TO-DAY SEEKING GENTEBL EMPLOYMENT.

: The Hon. J. Hanan, Minister of Edu- . cation, in the course of his remarks to • the deputation from the Wellington Tech- . meal bcliool Board, which waited upon ,hnn, referred to tho dislike of the youth ; olto-day for industrial work, and the , desire on the,part'of. young people for .light or genteel employment. He said , he regarded such as bad symptoms in ■ any country and they would lave to bo , reckoned with, How this spirit,, which . threatened, to imperil the future of the .: Dominion, was to be changed was a prob- . Jem difficult to solve, as there were ; . various causes and influences to be con- , sidered. Upon industrial work the wel- ■ faro of New Zealand was based, and mainly advauced. It was the workers . in tho towns and country who counted most in the. development and progress of the Dominion. There was need for obtaining greater agricultural and indus■iu. P° wer f°r developing our resources. Ihe war was causing a depletion'in tho ranks of our • workers, and the seriousness of the problem would appear with more compelling force after the termination of hostilities,' when new conditions and requirements would have to be faced. Now was the time to think and plan with a view to a proper solution of the problem that now beckoned* attention. Emphasising the need of a vocational training for skilled trades' and agricultural pursuits, Mr._ Hanan went on to say that he was desirous of giving encouragement to those pupils to attend technical, schools who purposed taking up skilled trades and instruction in agriculture. While ho was desirous of giving encouragement to technical schools • to provide and. maintain courses which had a direct relation to trades and agriculture, he .recognised tbat there was waste and conditions associated with some technical schools which must be chocked, so that value should be obtained for the money expended. In contrasting the relative importance and values of primary, technical, and secondary ■ instruction the Minister said that his main consideration was to improve and secure thoroughness in our primary schools, and.U give more'prominence to technical ed\ication which was better suited, for the greater majority of our young people,having regard to their natural fitness and the needs of the State In'the matter of : having skilled mechanics and agriculturists. Because of these considerations, his "' desire was to make our educational system more practicable, and give it a dis- ' tinct bias towards skilled trades ' and •agricultural life. , The Hon. J. G.W. Aitken' expressed appreciation of the' Minister's views, and intimated that the members of the, board fully endorsed them.