UNEMPLOYED BOYS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 303, 17 August 1932, Page 6

UNEMPLOYED BOYS

CHRISTCHURCH MAN SUGGESTS I WORK IN GOVERNMENT | SERVICE. ' A suggestion that a number of unemployed boys be piaced in different Government departments, where they could be looked after and taught a trade by qualified inen, without being pluced on the permanent stafl", has been made by Mr. S. Scliofield, a ra'lway servant in Christchurch. It was evident, said Mr. Schofield, that private employment was not available for these boys; employers were unable to provide work, and the boys or their parents were looking to the Government to make a move. Mr. J. Dash, Minister of Transport in the Queensland Labour Government, had made a start which might be copied by New Zealand. He intended to find work for 50 appreniice; in the Railway Department of that Siate, and hoped to absorb more later on. These boys were not to be piaced on the permanent staff, but would be taught a trade in the shops which i would be useful to them in later life. If some of the unemployed boys in New Zealand could be piaced in different Government departments, where they would be looked after and taught a trade by qualified men, it could at lcast be said that some useful effort had been made. "The number of boys who could be taken into Government departments j would have to be determined by the Government after consulting with departmental officers," said Mr. Scho- I field. "The experience of the last : two years shows how useless it is to j tiy to find work for young people. | When an employer requires a boy he j soon finds one for himself. I have ( to admit that objections can be found to any scheme, but when one meets the son of hard-worlcing parents, 19 or 20 years of age, with a good education, who has never had a job in j h's life, it makes one inclined to , resort to any expedient."