TRADi: Si IIOOI.S \S AIDS li ) INDISTKN". 583 



cnj^age only these as a])i)rciiticcs. ToNcrly c■xclluk■^ main from 

 the school, hut much assistance is avaiiahle in the form of hur- 

 saries — tuition, hoarding" and travellinii — and sums of nearly 

 £800 and ii.ooo were spent in this way at Johannesburg and Pre- 

 toria respectively during the j^ast year. The tuition fees are 

 only £4 per anntim, while in necessitous cases ttiition is free. Last 

 year the cost to the (jovernment per pupil per amnim was ap- 

 proximately £45 at Johannesburg, and £50 at Pretoria. This is 

 admittedly more than the Government should be called u^Jon to 

 pay. but an enrolment of 300,* which I feel ought to be reached 

 at an early date, when I hope the only avenue to apprenticeship 

 in the engineering trades will be through the Trades School, 

 would \m{ the financial position on a more reasonable basis and 

 reduce the cost per ptipil-year to that approximating to the se- 

 condary schools, which, during the past year, amoimted to £23 

 5s. 3d. If the itotal cost of the Trade Schools be divided by the 

 total enrolment of both day and evening pupils, the capitation 

 cost is £13 14s. I id., as compared with £7 14s. id. for each 

 primary school pupil and £9 4s. 6d. for each pupil taught in all 

 the schools under the Transvaal Education Department, includ- 

 ing continuation classes. 



One difficulty with which the school has to contend is the 

 amount of leakage ; boys leave before completing their course. 

 Some of this is due to their inability to cope with the work, and 

 some to genuine poverty ; but much is due to the selfish folly 

 of parents who prefer a few immediate potinds earned in a 

 l)lind-alley occupation to the remoter but greater earnings after 

 sacrifice that yields such a manifold return in a career for the 

 lads as skilled tradesmen. 



Another drawback is that very little can be done with lads 

 of a low standard of general education. Their ap]:)renticeship 

 is practically completed before they are capable of entering tech- 

 nical classes proper. Everyone acknowledges that from 14 to 

 16 is a critical period in the age of a lad. The sudden release 

 from school discii^line and contact with the world often causes 

 him to run amok. The ordinary school lessons, even with the 

 amount of manual training which is part of the school curricu- 

 lum, having become irksome, he begs his father to release him 

 from school, and the ])arent. too often a willing victim, falls. It 

 is here where, in the case of a lad who wishes to l)ecome an 

 artisan, the Trade School comes in. Certainly the wages which 

 he might earn have to be sacrificed, and he must be providetl 

 with food and clothing for two years, but school again becomes 

 attractive : he continues his general education while he does 

 Mimething useful with his hands; he knows that he is being 

 initiated into a trade, and that the time spent in the school will 

 count towards his apprenticeshi]). which is practically assured ; 

 and, perhaps the most important consideration of all, he is re- 

 tained under discipline at the most impressionable years of his 



"The cnrolmont at the beginning of the tirsi term in 1917 was 187. 



