Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 1943. THE TRAINING OF YOUTHS.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 January 1943, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 1943. THE TRAINING OF YOUTHS.

Q-FFICTAL silence on. the subject of granting opportunities

for civil study or training to youths of 18 to 21 years called up for military service has at last been broken in a statement by the Minister of Supply (Mr Sullivan) at Christchurch. The War Cabinet and the Government, the Minister said, had been giving attention to the question of these lads being “in danger of losing their occupational training.” A plan, was being worked out, he added, with the object of making sure that these boys rendering military service will get their training, whether they are university students or apprentices, or whatever their occupations may be. This is very good hearing, but evidently no time should be lost in putting! into practical effect the plan thus explicitly promised by the Minister on behalf of the Government. The matter derives urgency, not only from the need of giving thought to the position of lads now being drafted into camp, but from the fact that many others have spent lengthy periods in cflmp cut off from all reasonable opportunities for civil study or occupational training of any kind. It is commonly reported that many lads called into camp at the age of 18 have found themselves, after a few months of military training, wasting their time in deadening if not demoralising routine. It is claimed, of course, by some military organisers, that camp routine, even of a dull and repetitive kind, has its value in the shaping of the soldier, but where the best formative years of youth are concerned, this is a dictum to be received with reserve. It is clear that nothing less than an imperative and immediate military necessity could justify an important proportion of the youth of the Dominion being cut off, as it has been thus far, from opportunities for study and training in preparation for future civil life. There is no dispute regarding the desirability of commencing the military training of our youthful manhood' at the age of 18. What has been questioned is whether it is necessary that the whole time of lads between the ages of 18 and 21 should be monopolised by .military training. Apparently the War Cabinet and the Government have now decided that this is not necessary. Details of the plan which is to ensure, as the Minister of Supply has said, that all lads rendering military service will get their civil training, should be made known speedily. Much, valuable time has been -wasted and the future of many lads has been prejudiced. As has been urged over and over again in these columns and elsewhere, there should be no difficulty whatever in satisfying all the requirements of military service by lads between the ages of 18 and 21, and at the same time enabling at least the greater proportion of these lads to devote a large part of each year to study or occupational training. There is an immense, amount of leeway to be overtaken in this matter and no time should be lost in proceeding to overtake it.