Shortage of skilled labour
FIJI still had a number of jobs that could not be filled because of a shortage of skilled labour, Fiji’s former prime minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara said.
An article published in The Fiji Times on August 5, 1974, stated Ratu Mara was officially opening the Royal Military Forces’ new trade training centre at Queen Elizabeth Barracks when he made the statement.
He added that the government’s awareness of the labour problem was already apparent in the work of the Manpower Council, the Apprenticeship Council and the National Training Council.
“But we felt that not only could we use more trained men, but that the men themselves would benefit from the disciplined nature of the training which can be provided in a military environment,” he said,
The centre was a New Zealand government aid project built under a new agreement between Fiji and New Zealand.
A Royal New Zealand Army Engineers’ officer made the first studies and recommendations and the school was under the command of a New Zealand warrant officer.
The New Zealand government had provided $80,000 to help pay for the building. The work force came from Fiji.
The prime minister said the school’s aims were to give young men training and a purpose for their own benefit, and to provide trained men for Fiji’s needs.
“We are proceeding step by step at present in planning for using the RFMF in a rural development role.
“And this school will, of course, be able to supply skilled men for that enterprise.
“I have always said that trade is better than aid and the New Zealand Trade Minister, who was in Fiji, is engaged in proposals to help in this direction.
“But the next best thing is aid, which enables us to help ourselves, and I think this school is a first-class example of such aid and we are now grateful.”
The New Zealand High Commissioner, Graham Ansell, said there had been a long association between the RFMF and New Zealand and it would continue.
He said the association had taken a new turn with the vocational training centre.