APPRENTICES FOR TRADES

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22080, 30 April 1937, Page 4

APPRENTICES FOR TRADES

OLDER BOYS OFFERING

NEED FOR REORGANISATION SUGGESTED

"There are still many, boys from 18 to 20 years of age who are anxious to secure apprenticeship to trades. We have had knowledge of very few cases where the provision for special contracts for older boys with the approval of the Minister for Labour has been made use of," said Mr G. Maxwell Keys, honorary officer in charge of the Boys' Vocational Guidance and Employment Bureau at the Young Men's Christian Association, when discussing the statement published on Tuesday by the assistant-secretary of the Labour Department, Mr H. E. Moston, that there was likely to be an acute shortage of apprentices. Mr Keys said that he was glad that j Mr Moston had mentioned this provision, as it seemed that the reason why it was not made use of more largely was that it was not sufficiently known. Mr Moston had said that advantage had been taken of it in more than 100 cases, but Mr Keys considered that this was a very small number for the period of about six months during which the provision had been available. He had mentioned it when interviewing an employer in the engineering trade last week, and had found that the firm did not know anything about it. Yet there were many boys who had missed the opportunity to enter trades during the depression, and now found it difficult to do so. He had recently come across an instance of one boy who had gone out into the country during the depression, and had. missed his chance to enter a trade. He now wished to do so, but found It difficult Shorter Apprenticeship The shortening of the period of apprenticeship allowed under the special provision would greatly improve the position for the older boys. Mr Keys considered. Every opportunity had been provided for these boys to make themselves ready for work. Some of i them had stayed on at school, many of them continuing their training at the Technical College. They would thus be better fitted to learn a trade in a shorter time. Possibly the period spent at the Technical College should be taken into account in shortening the term of apprenticeship. Such a shortening might be helpful to the trade as a whole as well as the boys. Where training was being given for specialised work in a trade it might be advantageous for the latter part of the period of apprenticeship to be riven to learning other branches of the trade. At present, Mr Keys said, it was possible to fulfil the demands for apprenticeship. He thought, however, that a reorganisation of the whole system might be called for. "The Minister for Labour," he said, "has indicated that a reorganisation may be necessary, but before he does anything he is collecting information through the New Zealand Council of Educational Research. The work of gaining information is going on in the four main centres." There are sufficient youths offering for apprenticeship in the engineering trade, according to Mr G. T. Thurston, secretary of the Engineering anl Allied Trades Union, but he expressed the opinion that the wages offering for skilled tradesmen were sufficiently in advance of those for unskilled men to offer an inducement to youths to enter trades. In the motor industry unskilled men in assembly plants were earning 2s 4Jd an hour, and skilled men only 2s 6d. In the electrical trade the skilled man had to keep constantly in touch with new regulations; he might lose h's ucence if he did not do so, and would be obliged to turn to some other occupation. Under these conditions the wages offering were an insufficient inducement to enter the trade. * . Referring to the I'arge decrease in the number of apprentices as compared with the number in 1023, Mr Thurston said that it had to be re membered that the improvements in machinery since that time had greatly reduced the need for skilled men in the manufacturing industries. He said that there were 26 boiler makers in Christchurch, but it was a long