APPRENTICESHIP.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18917, 4 February 1927, Page 8

APPRENTICESHIP.

MORE COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE ACT. 1 ■ 1 [THE PRESS Special Service.] AUCKLAND, r'ebruary 3. i Criticism ul the Apprenticeship Act | wa.s voiced at the concluding session oi ibo conlcrencj ol the New Zealand i'cluil and Jewellers' Association. -Mr I'. N. Denton said the apprenticeship question was a very vexed one, especially among watchmakers-, on account/ of the small number oi men employed. The greatest' weakness iu the Act was its restriction upon the employment ul' extra apprentices unless tho number of journeymen was increased. Accordingly, the remedy lay in the hands of the Government, which seemed bound by a system of pin-pricking labour laws. The fact was that the workers were afraid of apprentices supplanting them in their jobs. The president. Mr E. S. Kobn, said he understood that after an apprentice had served three years it was possible to lake on another junior. . c .. .Mr Denton stated that a Wellington jeweller' had tried to do this, but his notion had raised a storm of protest fiom ilia Trades Hall. The whole | question was a serious one. as much | for the boys of the country as lor auy- ; one else. Several members agreed that the Act { had been introduced to do away with | many evils, but that it was not workj ing in tho interests of employee and employer. A resolution was pas.sed to the effect that the conference deplored the lack of efficient apprentices, and considered this the result of the Apprentices Act I as at present framed, the limitation of ! one apprentice to three journeymen i affecting the watch trade in particular.