TRADE AND LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 63, 14 March 1924, Page 13

TRADE AND LABOUR NOTES.

~~ ' I (By INDUSTRIAL TRAMP.) ; INION MEETINGS FOX THE. WEEIt. j j This Evening, March 14—Curriers, i i Saturday. March 13—Bakers' Special; : I lrcezlng Works' Employees. J Monday, March JlT—Furniture Trades; Cm- j | tcrs and Pressors; Tailors. jl Tuesday, March IS-l'lunibers' Quarterly; ■■ I Storemen. i | Wednesday, March 10—Plasterers; rjeneral j ! Labourers' Special. j Thursday, March 20—Plumbers' Eduea- ! ! clonal; Stonemasons; Moulders ! 1 Friday, March lil-Bearasnion. j \ BRICKLAYERS' IN THE MAKING | j Fore some time past we have been j • kept posted up in the difficulties of j j securing bricklayers in New South i Wales, and there has been a determined j ! move in the direction of training adults ] j in the trade, owing to the scarcity of) i apprentices, and the lime spent in the | i period required by law aud by custom j m turning out efficient tradesmen, an exchange, 1 gather that the advocates j of the system of turning out tradesmen j "while you wait," are not having all j j their own way in the parent State of j Australia. j When the Xew South Wales Board of j Trade proceeded to hear several appli- i cations from the Master Builders' Asso- ' tiation for permission to apprentice ! adults to the bricklaying trade, Judge ! Beeby read a report which said that in I < the opinion of architects the quality of j j bricklayers being turned out in " the | j "hurry-up" schools failed to justify first- j class buildings being coustructed in i brick. I j The unduly high labour cost of build- ] ! ings, delays in completion, faulty work, I ! and tendency to substitute concrete for ' ' brick construction were all due in large i • measure to the decline of skill of jour-j : neymen bricklayers. The report added \ j that it was essential that the skill of j j bricklayers and others in the building ' j trade should not be allowed to deterior- j ate, because inferior or inadequate J housing menaced the physical and moral j health of the people. j Referring to the school for the inten- ! sive training of unapprenticed persons ! conducted by the Master Builders' As- ! sociation, the President of the Board ! (Judge Beeby) said the conditions were j unsatisfactory. After three months' ■ training the trainees were allowed to go : out as journeymen without further con- j eern for the interests of the public. The j attitude of the association was that em- j plovers would not employ the men un- j less they were able to make their wages, j After an elaborate and protracted in- I quiry the board had come to the de- I eision, in the light of evidence taken, S that the skill of the "bricklaying trade [ could not be acquired by young men ! who might enjoy the advantages of ! twelve weeks' intensive training in a j shorter period than two years. ■ Judge Beeby commented on the prevail- : ing decline of skill, as a result of the j present method of training, and added: \ "The Board cannot, consistent with its j pronouncements in the earlier cases, j consent to the applications now before j it on the ground that it would be in j the interests of the trade to do so. I These applications, because of the fail- « ure of master builders and the associa- ! tion to take up in the past year the ! 00 apprentices responsibly estimated as ! necessary to recruit the trade, or, in- . deed, even one-third of that number, are - in no sense intended to provide for the j • needs of the years during which normal j apprentices are graduating up to jour- J neymanship. Apprenticeship, and with it J the trade prospects of many years to i t come, is, in fact, being sacrificed to the | t exigencies of an industrial conflict of l I only temporary significance. It is for J this reason that the board regards these ! applications as being in the words of I ! the determination in the Phillips case, ! 'part of a scheme to secure dilution ! of artisan labour.'" : In regard to two of the applications ; made by the Master Builders' Associa- : tion, Judge Beeby stated that the j board's consent would be granted to t their apprenticeship on the condition J that they served in the case of one of j f them for two years at a wage rate of £4 ! j a week, and in the case of the other at; I £2 10/ for the first year aud £3 10/1 i for the second year. Both must, in | J addition, attend the trade school in J • bricklaying at the Technical College. In j ! the case of two others (adults) the ap-j I plications were refused. '- MALE DOMESTICS. Men complain that they are kept out - of jobs by women, and women complain j j that they are not given the same oppor- I j tunities as man. But women are failing : to hold their ground in spheres that \ have been marked out as peculiarly j J their own. They are refusing to enter i domestic service, and even when they I do so many of them fail to give satis- , 5 faction to their women employers, j There are many men out of work, and • some of them are prepared to enter domestic service if given the chance, so women had better have a care. An ex-naval officer's wife is responsible for the following advertisement: —"Wanted, entire man staff—cook, parlourmaid, housemaid, willing to get S o'clock breakfast, and wait on nursery; two babies; nurse kept; ex- Navy preferred; must guarantee not to quarrel." This housewife is determined never to have a woman servant again. She has found women servants "rude, inefficient, demanding very high wages, and giving little in return." She has received a number of suitable applications from men who are willing to enter domestic Service, and not one has asked for as much as is always asked by a woman servant. It remains to be seen how these male domestics will acquit themselves, especially when it comes to the delicate task of bathing the babies. Moreover, If they are single, as we may suppose, they have not been accustomed to being commanded by a woman, and the harbour lights may not burn brightly after a few months' experience. On the other hand, the experiment may prove a great success, and then women will have to look to their laurels.—Liverpool "Post."