FUTURE TRADESMEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 57, 5 September 1944, Page 3

FUTURE TRADESMEN

TRAINING PROBLEM

COLLEGE PROPOSAL

Additional workshop accommodation was needed by the Wellington Technical College, stated the director, Mr. R. G. Ridling, in a report to the Board of Managers at a meeting last night. He recommended that the architects be requested to prepare plans and estimates for the erection of a block of workshops to provide for necessary building activities. They would be for carpentry and joinery, cabinet making, bricklaying, plastering, masonry, painting and decorating, and plumbing. "I believe that the preparation of these training 'facilities should be given priority over other essential building work, for only through active vocational training ' can there be enough efficient industrial labour," he stated. ' . "Our national economy has, up to the present, been based upon the products of our soil and any secondary activities have grown out of and been dependent upon the successful production and marketing of our primary products. It would be difficult to estimate how much longer this state of affairs can continue, for the war has changed the policy of our chief buyers. Before the war the development of subsidised farm operations and the introduction of the quota system by England indicated a coming change, and it is unlikely that the agricultural policy enforced upon England by war conditions will be seriously modified. England's production of basic agricultural products must seriously decrease the demand for New Zealand dairy and meat products, and the enormous development of synthetic fibres must lessen the demand for wool. Although the relief of the starved European people will require the maximum possible production from our farm lands for some years yet, we must recognise that a permanent change in our national economy is already upon us. AN URGENT MATTER. "The setting up of a commission on apprenticeship, and the establishment" of an Organisation for National Development, indicate that the Government accepts an altered national social structure as inevitable. This, associated with the aftermath of war, particularly the problem of the rehabilitation of men and women, makes an examination of technical training facilities, an urgent, matter. Two changes proposed by the board have not proceedea very far. Two engineering shops have been modified, the. equipment has.been maintained in fair condition, and a further engineering slhop has been equipped for bench work only. The alteration of the motor section has only just begun. At this rate the college can. play only an indifferent part in the reorganisation training. "In addition to the normal prevocational training and vocational training of young people an organisation must be ready to provide for those adults who require partial retraining and those adults who require a complete training. "During the war men and women have been drafted into the Army or into industrial activities where they have been engaged on specialist work" which has provided them with limited specialised skills. For such people vocational activities that will round off their training to fit them for .the more comprehensive peacetime occupations will be essential. This is being .arranged for by the Rehabilitation Board, either by subsidised occupation in industry or by training in special schools. The college has a few men who are being trained as fitters and turners. This work will increase and will require further workshop accommodation and equipment. - "The young men who began military work without any industrial training will need a complete course of traini mg, either in industry or in special schools or, perhaps, in both. Such young men will need sympathetic and skilled treatment to prevent the development of disappointment and a feeling of frustration. "How great or how complex the demand will be nobody can tell. The most obvious outlet for organised and trained labour will be in the building industry, and by the training of carpenters and joiners, bricklayers, tilers plasterers, plumbers, and electricians much of the present untrained labour can be absorbed. If material in quantity can be milled or manufactured and if the building industry can be planned and controlled to provide assured employment for a long period then a really constructive effort will materialise." '