Careers

to get off the jetty before noon as a strong on shore wind starts blowing every afternoon during the cyclone season and then dies away soon after sunset. "I went ashore to have a look at the place. It was very small, and one could see it all in twenty minutes. A few houses for the Europeans looked very attractive. For the remainder, the natives lived in shacks which appeared to consist of pieces of wood tied together with coir yarn. How they stood up is still a mystery to me. "Morombe is not a nice place to visit for the first time. The ship has to pass between two reefs keeping leading marks in line right ahead and then as another pair of beacons come in line on the port side to alter course quickly to bring them in line astern. One has to go in at a fair speed to counteract the strong current. We were fortunate in arriving an the top of high water and so could not see the reefs. When low water came along it was rather scaring to see how the reefs extended, and the small gap the ship had to pass through. The width of the entrance channel is about 500 feet—not sufficient room for a ship to turn round. At night there are no lights to give a check on the anchor bearings, and so we kept the radar switched on."

A SANDSTORM OFF CAPE BOJADOR. "At about 0500 hours, 5th February, we were in the vicinity of Cape Bojardor, when it became very hazy, and by 0600 hours we were experiencing a sandstorm. This lasted till 0200 hours the following morning. Visibility varied from twa miles to nil and it was necessary to slow down at times and to use the steam whistle. We passed five miles off Grand Canary but never had a glimpse of land. The entire ship was covered with a dirty yellow sand. Despite having all windows and doors closed, the sand was everywhere. We were 120 miles off the coast of the Sahara and altogether we travelled 315 miles in a northerly direction before getting clear."

The Public Schools Appointments Bureau in a recent Bulletin referred to 1958 as an engineering year as far as their activities are concerned. Certainly the Bulletins, Short Works Courses, and Careers Masters' Conventions have a very strong engineering flavour and the Bureau makes no apology for this bias. While, in the schools, we must try to avoid a lack of balance in careers information and advice, there is no doubt that in engineering, properly-qualified Public Schoolboys can find demanding and rewarding careers. Most good openings are, of course, for boys with scientific and mathematical ability as shown by "0" or, preferably, "A" level results, but there is also considerable scope for boys who are following non-scientific courses 32

of study. It is often little realised that industry embraces branches of many of the professions and that it is possible to obtain a wide variety of professional qualifications while training with an industrial firm.

Training, both for technical and for non-technical posts is usually given through some apprenticeship scheme, which may or may not include a University course. For those who do not go up to University (an increasing number), training is usually supplemented by attendance at a technical college on one day and two evenings each week over a period of up to five years, depending upon age, qualifications and progress. An alternative is the "sandwich" course in which the apprentice spends six months with the company in each year, the remaining six months being spent in full-time training at a technical college. At the end of the course some such qualification as the Higher National Certificate or Diploma in one of the branches of engineering is gained and this can lead to an associate membership of one of the engineering institutes. This year the first Diplomas in Technology will be awarded. Training for these is given at one of the Colleges of Advanced Technology, which are situated in various parts of the country, and the standard of the Diplomas should be equivalent at least to that of a Pass Degree. Many engineering firms are making it possible for their apprentices to train for these diplomas and they should be of great interest to those boys who cannot find a place at a University because of very stiff competition, but who have done well at Advanced level.

On the commercial side there are also many training schemes and it is here that the non-technical boy may find his niche. An increasing number of companies is running commercial apprenticeships under the auspices of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, and training under their schemes can lead to the higher levels of management in competition with those who have come up on the technical side. It is perhaps appropriate here to point out once again that on both the technical and commercial sides the personality of the candidate in each case will play a decisive part in the rate and extent of his progress. This factor of personality is very hard to define, but there is no doubt that it cannot be developed to the full without active participation in all facets of school life.

During the Easter holidays I attended a P.S.A.B. Convention in South Wales. Each delegate visited four out of the sixteen companies sponsoring the Convention and, as the Bureau will be issuing a Bulletin later, setting out the necessary careers information about each company, I will content myself by giving a few general impressions. One of the most vivid, shared by all delegates, was that industry in South Wales is virile, progressive and very optimistic We were struck by the fact that many of the responsible positions were occupied by comparatively young men and that there did not seem to be any preference given to Welshmen. Industry in South Wales has changed radically in the last ten years and there is now a wide variety of 33