THE THINKING WORKER.

Grey River Argus, 27 April 1911, Page 8

THE THINKING WORKER.

EFFECTS- OF EDUCATION. .- • :_ .\ borne interesting- remarks upon the relations of education and modern industries, were made at a conference held in Auckland regarding labour troubles in the boot industry. in discussing the prospects of a lad who entered the boot trifre, Mr G. Whiting, of Christchurch, the secretary of the . federated unions, said an apprentice to the trade would have to work for six years before he could hope to earn the journeyman's wage a shade" over Is per hour. It was in that light that boys looked at tlie boot industry, and it was the same prospect ' that their guardians considered. Parents ' were not going to put their sons to a trade where they would earn no more than dS2 6s per week of 45" hours, and the bpys themselves held equally definite opinions, for nowadays "boys thought for themselves. Mr G A. Coles, the head of ' a manufacturing firm, in essaying to find/ a solution of the existing difficulty, .said that a spirit of unrest pervaded the workers of .the Dominion. Durihg- the past 47 yaers, the Boot trade had never been in a> better position in regard to the employment of labo.ur, yet the. workers were.- more restless than ever before. He had yet to° be convinced that the boot trade was not a good trade, and he .was inclined to thinfc that education had a great deal to do with the present condition. Men were thinking more than they used to, and- they endeavoured to enter their children in the most remunerative callings. To some extent technical education was at fault, for the technical schools were turning out .hundreds of girls instructed in typewriting and shorthand, and many of them would never be efficient stenographers, though they might, have been useful workers in the Dominion's industries. He was sanguine' enough' to think that ther-e would be a change before long, tor people, were beginning 1 , to realise that office world was not' available for all, and that their sons arid daughi ters would rhave to earn rtheir living | in some other calling's.

A conference between representatives of the Dunedin City Council and Hospital and Cliarkablc Aid Board, Drainage Board, Harbour Board and Health Department .was held to consider what steps should be taken to prevent the introduction of plague into the city. In the course of a lengthy discussion the importance' of a vigorous crusade against rats was emphasised, also the 'heed for a gen- K ,eral cleaning up of premises in the city and suburbs. ' It was mentioned' b;ut a number, of -dilapidated houses were still- standing; and that the City Council had .met with .several rebuffs in its effort to have them demolished. It was decided that a house to house inspection shpuld be put into operation as soon &s , possible, the cost to be -born! by the City Council, Hospital Board, Drainage . Board, and Harbour Board."