APPRENTICES BARRED.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 45, 23 February 1926, Page 7

APPRENTICES BARRED.

> OVERCROWDED TRADES. JOURNEYMEN OUT OF WORK. A reply to the statements of Mr. S. E. Wright, secretary of the Auckland Employers' Association, last Saturday upon the question of shutting boys out of employment in the trades after leaving school, was given to-day by Mr. J. Purtell, president of the Trades and Labour Council. Mr. Wright decried the Apprentices Act, and stated that a large number of young people were shut out of work by "its provisions and the administration of the Act by tlie Arbitration Court. "We deem it imperative and advisable that the public should be made acquainted with the true facts," remarked Mr. Purtell, "before placing any reliance on the opinion of Mr. Wright." In reviewing the position, Mr. Purtell said that, since the Act came into force on April 1, 1924, every industry under its provisions had considerably increased its number of apprentices and in a number of cases the proportion of apprentices to journeymen in Apprenticeship Orders had been increased by the Arbitration Court at the instigation of the Employers' Association. At the present time in Auckland, in such trades as engineering, electrical, motor, furniture, and building trades, a large number of journeymen were unemployed, whilst employers were crowding their workshops with apprentices for the purpose of cheap labour. "If the opinions of Mr. Wright are correct," Mr. Purtell challenged, "let him advise the public of the increase in the number of apprentices in each industry since the Act came into force, the number of apprentices elischarged upon completion of their apprenticeship, and the number of journeymen discharged to make room for apprentices; then, and only then, will the public be aware of the true position; but Mr. Wright has clouded the issue by stating that few boys are placed in work, that it is a detrimental Act, and should be altered."