THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 1912. BRAINS IN BUSINESS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10598, 2 April 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 1912. BRAINS IN BUSINESS.

In these hudy-buriy days cf politicail conflict and industrial upheaval, few people find time to think of th'e com<-mon-53la.ee 'things 'of life. And yet itis tfhese things whicu, in th 3 aggregate, .go to make or unmake .nations. How imany, for instance, devote -eiither tinue or aititentilon' to .the secrets of |teSii!E©s success? jtfas anybody, in' !t)hi;s young Eiomintton, 'tried to impress upon the (public mind the immense importance of sound business training -Upon, (the .'i'uitiure '.of the State ?--'Do our Universities and our secondary 'soliools provide u® with the men and 1 Women who 'are wanted to build Uip! the commerce of fth'e Empire? How many men are we .turning out -who are 'ii/tted-co ocoupy .positions oh the commercial \Voiid where brain's, tact and administrative capacity are required? True, our Technicail Schools are devoting Isome attention to bookkeeping and the minor qualifications for 'baifiiness. Bait they axe only' 'Couching the fringe of commercial! life. 'lhe brains of the country arc /being aJlowed to drift into the already ©ver-crowded professions, because our Universities and Colleges are making provision'for nothing else. What is happening in New Zealand is 'also happening in the Motherland, hvith the result that the conim'erci'al isi'ipremacy of Gireat Britain is .in- jeopardy. Let us read what the head •of hi big uonnnorcial 'institutroil in (England had to Bay recently, ancT see W vbj cannot draw from 'it a (moral whic|k will be useful to us in this' Doirniinion. Speaking, upon' the necessity for training you'ng men to com-Imei-oial pursuits, Mr R. Hirst, Qhair„ Imiaaij of 'the Gen'erat Electric Company, asked: — "What was every civilised country - .striving for 'but «uch industrial a!nd commercial expansion •as would increase 'its capital a,nd provide profitable 'employment for its 'people? It. was this, ovenvhelming tbs-irc, r.r this ir. street c.-f self-preser-

vatfon, which had caused great wars in the past, 'and was mow at the.Toot f..-f d.J .the pciitical uiir'est bj which the world was troubled to-day. .Within 'the past 20, years all civilised icoun•tuics had organised themselves into \so many md.ins.tr;a:l armies- which wi-re treadv to figih,t Tor the 'industrial prizes the world luid lJ 11 to offer. \\e .lived iin ( the midat of daily war; it niigjht be ipaoiiic warfare, but. it \\ as v.ot i nevertbele&s. Gould any one recall cii iustanoL 1 of victory rei/c----ing with an army which had not been led by Aihe bci&t .brawl,s a>nd the «b!ood*cf its country? Ottu* nation* Hud drawn to ilicir industrial life •men .of birms aa:d lueec'.i'np;,. ,but ill ad rot followed tboir example, yet v,e admitted that our future rested on our intliu atrial predominance. It •was ,tli is t'«rious defect which h>? v.iished to remedy, aii'd <lie appealed ito (the Universities, wW : cii were_ the seats of learning, and the jd€-po&i'fcori«s of tthe traditions which ilnad moulded, the lives of njany generations of English igca'.tk'iixai. Puo'ha'bly there was no ijiead of one cit eoTegos who wtflh liiis fellow d'ens regarded the adoption tif "ai-liudmcLiS crreei- as a d-'isSnot deisoent in t'l'.e £ octal sea'*. hut no one •Who liad eyes to see and ears to hear ■would for a moment deny tftiat thiat was the universal opinion, opts'n. or 'unavo\Ced,j cf every one at the Universities. If .this country was to'ad- | vauoe a<n»d prosper, if it was even to 1 iliold its owri i'n -the strenuous conflict which was .now bejng waged for the toliißicss. of the world, all tliat must (be. changed. At pa-iasent men engaged 'iiv indirffltnial (pursuits, who had _> (•hf!jpr-^dea^rof- th'eir, calling,'and. who -had'. vWi^d-jtoinfuse, their, isons a. 3<uei; sen*e cf the grtfeiriess of tiliev were to carry out; dar_ ed not send'-their bovs to Oxt&rd. or (Cambridge because they would run a *>jre«t /rifle cf having them returned ,tp them, not indeed 'vfith minds op morals contaminated. Trait renderted unfit for business. For how ctfuld a.ny man. suctre&sfijl'Jy follow a- career of wthicli lie 'had gained the impres- } siion, t'hait itwais- unworthy of any one of brains and culture?"