Master Builders May Change Name

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31319, 15 March 1967, Page 18

Master Builders May Change Name

“The Press’" Special Service INVERCARGILL, March 13 The emphasis on education in the building industry had made the term “master builder” no longer as appropriate as it used to be, the president of the Master Builders ’Federation, (Mr R. D. Baigent, of Wellington) said at the annual conference of the federation in Invercargill today. He suggested that the name of the organisation be changed to the New Zealand Construction Industry Federation. The federation’s efforts with educational matters during the past year had met with success and setbacks, Mr Baigent said. Technician training was now an established aspect of education in the industry, and cadetship provided a properly established mode of employment for trainees. “In the matter of the establishment of a building degree course, however, we have been further frustrated and there is every reason to believe that had we the constructive support of the Institution of Engineers instead of their opposition, we may well have had a course

started in Auckland this year. “Perhaps we should endeavour to reconcile the attitude of the Institution of Engineers, but regardless of their attitude we must surely be entitled to expect to see established a chair of building science in one of the universities; this is a very small requirement for an industry as large as ours when you relate it to the two full universities specialising in agriculture. “The emphasis on education and the ever-increasing demand for technological and management training leads us to consider just how far we have moved away from the craft concept as the basis of the industry- Sad as it may seem to some, the term ‘master builder’ is no longer quite as appropriate as in the past.

“I am going to suggest that we should lead the way in upgrading our own approach to the industry and the attitudes of people outside the industry by changing he name of our federation to the New Zealand Construction Industry Federation and the names of our associations similarly.”