SKILLED TRADES

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21582, 19 September 1935, Page 12

SKILLED TRADES

DECLINE m NUMBER OF APPRENTICES

SERIOUS VIEW TAKEN BY LABOUR . DEPARTMENT .

LFrom Our Parliamentary Reporter.l WELLINGTON, September 18.

A serious view of the decline in the number of apprentices employed in skilled trades is taken in the annual report of the Department of Labour, which was presented in the House of Representatives to-day by the Minister for Labour (the Hon. Adam Hamilton). The problem is described as difficult not only from the point Of view of finding employment for boys, but also from the effect that the shrinkage in numbers will exercise in the future on skilled trades. Figures quoted in the report show a progressive decline in the number of apprentices employed from 1928 to 1935, the respective figures being 10,227 and 3329. The 1935 figure shows a decrease of 974 from that of 1934. On the other hand there has been a definite increase this year in the num-! ber of boys and girls under 16 years of age who have been granted certificates of fitness to work in factories, the total increasing from 1793 to 2802. i The number of girls engaged under: that heading, 2011, constitutes a record.' "Few of these young persons. have been taken on as apprentices in skilled trades under the provisions of the Apprentices Act, 1923," the report con* tinues. "It would appear that apart from the effect of trade conditions on apprenticeships, there is extreme reluctance on the part of employers to take on apprentices under the existing provisions. Power is given to the Arbitration Court under the Apprentices Act to order an employer to engage the minimum number of apprentices. This power has not been used,"