BLIND ALLEY EMPLOYMENT [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
Sm,—Your appreciative review of Mr. Gollan's book in your issue of Septeinber 3rd suggests that particulars of an experi- ment carried out by Cable and Wireless, Limited, in conjunction with the Kingsway Institute of the London County Council, the Ministry of Labour, and the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, may be welcome- - This Company employs a large number of messengers who are recruited on leaving school and-cease to be messengers at the age of seventeen or thereabouts. During this period they attend the Kingsway L.C.C. Institute for six hours per week, receiving instruction which will assist them in obtaining employment later.
On entering the service of the Company the boys are interviewed in order to assess their qualities of temperament and character and are also put through a series of psychological tests, prepared by the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, to measure their abilities in various directions. Taken in conjunction with the ordinary scholastic examinations, these tests enable a reliable estimate to be made of the general type of occupation for which each boy is suitable. The knowledge thus gained is of value to the Kingsway Institute in arranging the instructional courses and to the Ministry of Labour when the boys cease to be messengers and come on the labour market.
Such measures may not provide a complete solution of this particular problem of blind-alley employment, but they represent a promising co-operative effort to deal with the difficulty.— Yours faithfully, CHARLES S. MYERS, Principal. National Institute of Industrial Psychology, Aldwych House, London, W.C.2.
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