A LABOUR PROBLEM.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 January 1919, Page 4

A LABOUR PROBLEM.

APPRENTICESHIP AND UNREST. (By a Working Man iu a Sydney Paper.) • The question of apprenticeship has a most direct bearing on that of industrial unrest. We are sufferingnow because of neglect in the past, and we shall suffer far more in the luture unless the present system is overhauled and put into order. Whenaboy is serviughis apprenticeship his mind is very impressionable ; he is beginning to feel his feet, aud fresh from school lie notices the comparatively longhours. He is at a rebellious age, and is very liable .to be attracted by men of the Bolshevik type.

At school the boy is the first consideration. Everything is for his benefit; lie is cared for both in niind and body, and the masters are carefully selected lor the work. But the boy in the workshop receives little or no consideration at all. He may be put under a foreman whose only qualification is that of beiug a hustler, and may in many ways be a most unsuitable person to be in charge of young boys. He may bully and abuse them, take advantage of his position to impose on .them, and in no way command that respect which is so necessary. Many boys are very sensitive, and will feel an insult or injury, even, perhaps, when none is intended And when a boy is suffering under a sense of injury, real or fancied, lie will readily listen to the extremist, wlio will sympathise with and flatter him until he thinks it manly to treat all authority with contempt, and that to deceive is clever. So the seed is sown, to spring to life in later years. Though the full effect may not be seen, the seed is there ; aud as soon as a boy becomes infected with extreme ideas he loses all wish to improve himself, becomes discontented, and is a source of trouble and annoyance ro other boys whose minds are clean and clear.

There is, too, the question of monotony of work. A boy may be put on to work that entails doing the same operation hour after hour and day after day. He gets much quicker and more expert by doing the one thing than if he is being continually taught how to do something fresh. It is a better paying proposition from the employer’s point of view; but what of the apprentice ? The British Reconstruction Committee in their report recommend “ That alternative forms of employment be found to couuterac: the depressing mental effect of monotony of work.” II monotony of work has such a bad effect on men of mature years and of settled mind, how much more so ou a boy whose mind is naturally unsettled ? It is mental depression that the extremist looks for and immediately gets to work-on with both men and boys. . The only way to counter this is to keep the boy’s work varied and attractive, so that his lively interest is never allowed to droop. Encourage him in every way to increase his knowledge, not only in his trade, but in all other useful directions as well. Protect him from those who for their own purpose would drag him down to their own level, aud implant the seed of ambition iu the boy’s mind. Give him facility to obtain the necessary knowledge and experience to enable him in the future to become his own master. A boy or man with such a definite prospect iu his mind will have not time for the extremist. Honest individual ambition is one of the greatest safeguards against Bolshevism.

In addition to the suitability of those iu charge, there is the workshop itself to be considered. A boy may be put into a shop where rough aud ready methods are the rule; and at the end of his time he finds he has learned a trade that in these days of precision is obsolete. Through no fault of liis own, he is an incompetent workman, the last to be put ou, the first to be put off. He is frequently out of a job, naturally gets discontented, blames the various bosses aud the whole capitalistic system, when probably if he had learned his tradein a good shop it would be a totally different tale. Whether good, bad, or indifferent. an apprentice probably only knows what the particular shop that he is in has taught him. It should not be a difficult matter to overcome this by instituting a system ot exchange of apprenticeships from one shop to another, enabling them to obtain a good all-round experience of tlieir trade.

Apprenticeship being part of a boy’s education, should be under the control of the educational authority, who should also have a voice as to the suitability of the workshop and those in charge. There should be a system of inspec lion and inquiry, to ascertain that the scales are held even between employer and apprentice, to see that the apprentice is receiving a sound training in all branches of his particular trade, and also to see that the apprentice is doing his duty to his employer. The lair-dealing employer has nothing to fear or to lose under a system ol proper super vision. On the contrary, it is to his benefit. It is only the grasping employer who stands to lose. As things are, an employer who looks after his apprentices, gives them a thorough training in all branches ol his trade, and fully accepts the moral as well as legal responsibility of turning out bis apprentices as first-class' tradesmen, is at a disadvantage compared with the unscrupulous employer who only looks upon apprenticeship as another name for cheap labour, and works it accordingly, making all the money he can out of it, at the expense of the boy’s future. There would probably be a lair amount ol opposition to any idea of supervision. It would be looked upon as an invasion of private rights, and all that sort ol thing. But an apprentice is one of the most valuable assets of the nation. The nation lias a perfect rigiit 10 see that its assets are put to the utmost use, and that the nation, the employer, and the apprentice all obtain their fair share of the benefits of the apprenticeship system.