THE CITY COUNCIL AND PLUMBERS LICENSES.

Evening Post, Volume XLIX, Issue 109, 9 May 1895, Page 4

THE CITY COUNCIL AND PLUMBERS LICENSES.

TO THIS EDITOR. Sib— ln yonr isane of Tuesday night I was gratified to Bee jour article headed " Drainage Plumbing, and having given the question some publioity, as to the extraordinary aotion of the Council in renewing licenses to maßtermen ; but apparent y you havo only a slight knowledge of the farce the Cousoil are playing in thU matter. As you have already pointed out, tha muster plumbers where rf quired to pass, the some as tba journeyman, to which, with few <-x ce&tious, the master pliimuorn treated the l.ylaw with contempt, a.d the t onncil instead of makintr it h'.rd and fast to the very letter, amend it. so as to give thnni » provisional license till the next examination. But what about tho journeyman tha* failod to pasßp Thoy are sat on, and refused a license. But the Council have even gone from bad to worse, and amended the by-law, refusing the local journeyman plumber a license, depriving him of his livelihood, and issuing licenses to any new-comer tho City Surveyor may think fit. Surely if a man that has been doing sanitary work under the by-laws and under tbo supervision and passed by the Sanitary Inspector for the last two years, is not entitled to a provisional license, in preference to a stranger, it is time to apply for reiief. Why make fish of ouo and flesh of another? T presume the journeyman must live as well as the master-man. As you Bay, Sir, it is vi.just to those that have worked hard and passed the exam, and it is equally as hard for those that have worked hard, and done their best, and have not passed, and only, perhaps, requiring one or two marks.- I should like to aek onr technical Councillors how they expect the ones that have failed to prepare for the next examination, as being refused a license means loss of employment, as the masters can't piok ont thejork to suit the men that have not a license to do sanitary work, so that they will not be able to obtain a living, muoh more technical education. If the Council found it so necessary to amend the by-law, why not give the journeymen tho benefit of it also ? But to my idea it is tho master men, as some of them term themselves, that the Council should havo -nade pass the examination, seeing that they have originated from hod-carriers, 'bus guards eopperemiths, &o. Perhaps the Council was afraid of the master men taking a. united stand and testing the case if tho licenses were refuged. Of course the journeymen would have to take n back seat if it came to that, as the almighty dollar would be required, and it would bo found wanting, to test their side of the story. Sir, you are correofc, to a certain extent, in saving that the drainage scheme will materially depend on the sonndners of tho plumbing work. But although plumbing and somtotionare closely allied to eaoh other, thoy are not one. The drainage of » honea oomes nuder the head of sanitation quite as muoh , and is as important as the plumbing. Well, then) were up to Maroh hut between 40 to 60 licensed drainlayers, ■independent of those employed on the drainage works, and I should like to ask the Conaoil hour many of this number have passed an examination in sanitary drainage or engineering,, If it is necessary for the plumber to go through a oourso of theoretioal training to beoome profioient, it must be for a Hoensed drainlayer, seeing that drainage questions are submitted to all candidates groin? up for an examination. In conclusion, sir, thero is one very important item that requires to make the drainage soheme a

nocraa, and that is to have as drainage and mitary inspectors men who have qualified ! themselves Loth in tbeoty and practice, and < an fnrmah oertificntes to that effeot, as it ■ 'an hardly be oxpeoted that the work will I improve, although done by certificated ioumeymen, if it is to be supervised and massed by uuoertifioated men as inspectors, vitii no other oredentialß than having been i master builder for a number of years nere, and a resident of Wellington for such md snob a time, and a drum-layer the greater part of that time. This is about the extent of the certificates of somj of our authorities that the duly certified plumber of, perhaps, 25 years' praotioal experience baa to be submitted to. I can imagine the ■esult if one of the journeymen plumbers that held a license last year went for a reuewal to-morrow, and olaimed his lioense on the ground that ho was a plumber of ioveral years' standing, and had been ig. -rident in Wellington for a period of years; Would he get it? I doubt not. And why .ihould he be refused any more than the other offioials. After all, Bir, lam inclined to think that it is not the bungling plnmber that is going to jeopardise the drainage scheme, bnt the bungling Council. Hoping that I have not intruded too mnoh on your valuable space, and in giving this publicity you will be obliging, not only the bungling plumbers, but the bona fide one's also, lam, &0., Main Ventilator. Eegont-street, 2nd May, 1895.