KILLED WORKERS

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 101, 28 April 1917, Page 9

KILLED WORKERS

WASTAGE OF WAR

HOW MAY GAPS BE FILLED?

APPRENTICESHIP PROBLEMS.

Whsre do all the boys go to? Always, ac cry of employers is that they cannot =t enough. Boys are becoming increaslgly important. The wastage caused by ar in industrial life mu6t be made sod, but how is this to be done if the taterial is not available ? One part of le answer seems to be that the laterial is available, but diverted into nprofitable channels and unskilled ocjpafcions. A Post reporter recently inituted some enquiries on this subject, nd induced several leading employers ) discuss the problem of apprenticelip and how the gaps caused by the ■ar in the ranks of skilled tradesmen jould. be filled. Incidentally it was Lscovered that no definite solution has et been arrived at of the problem presnted by the apprentice who broke his identures to enlist. Recently the Goernment sought the opinion of associa«ns of workers and employers as to ■hat terms should be prescribed for the of such indentures. New outh Wales legislation enables the a^ rentice on his return frtxm the front to dopt one of three courses : (1) to deline to renew the apprenticeship; (2) to ike it up again' at the point where he ;ft off; (3) to take it up at the point t which he would have been had he ot enlisted. The Wellington Trades louncil held that it was undesirable that ny portion of the training should be Xt, as it would be under the third ourse (with its almost certain conseuence of an ill-trained workman with n under-rate permit). At the same Lme it was recognised that youths, after ne, two, or three years' service abroad, 'ould not be inclined to bear the whole urden of the time lost from the trade ut gained by the country. They would ot want to adopt the second course and esume on boys' wages. To overcome de difficulty and secure the retention f the boys in the trades; the council aggested that they should take up the raining at the point at which it was topped, but should be paid the wages 3 which they would have been entitled ad they never been absent, the State ■aying the difference between this and he regular wages. Nothing more has «en heard of the matter, but possibly i will be the subject of legislation When 'arliament meets.

DEMAND FOE ENGINEERS. On the general question of skilled trade hortages, Mr. A. C. Mitchell, president f the Ironmasters' Association, said that o himself would prefer to see restriclons on tie number of apprentices reloved, since they ■were harassing and •roduced no benefit. There was a snffiient safeguard against the engagement f a surplus of boys in the fact that no mployer could work his business •without a good proportion of journeymen, nd he would not wish to have more .pprentices than he could keep 1 reason,b]y well employed with an average nuniler of adult workers. At present the ward in the engineering trade permitted he employment of two apprentices for aoh journeyman, and that enabled them n ordinary times to have as many apprentices as they; desired. In the orijjilal awardj in place of absolute freedom n the matter, as was the case previiusly, they were allowed only one ap>rentice to two journeymen; but tlia-t yas amended subsequently by the Qourt. iestrictions were apt to be very irksome rith a firm such as his own, where they mdeavoured to train boys' to become ikilled tradesmen, so as to assure a ;upply for their own works. The posi■ion in New Zealand as disclosed in sta.istics produced before the Arbitration Jourt recently was that the iiumber of .killed men coming on was not sufficient o supply the demand for engineers in >rdinary times, much 'Jess to replace the vastage of the war period.

EMBARRASSING PROVISIONS. Tho position in regard to the skilled trades where a serious shortage of skilled nen already exists is daily becoming nore acute, and Mr. Mitch-ell's firm tried o meet this by training men, and giving j hem ihe all-round knowledge required or New Zealand work; but it was be:oming more difficult each • year. The atest award laid it down that an apprentice might not be put to more than wo branches of the 'engineering trade, nstead of • leaving the employer free to ;ive to the apprentice that general trainag which was absolutely essential to mable him to become a competent engileer. The ground for this provision was ■he union claim that the old system •nrned. out men who were "jacks of all rades and master of none." The fallacy' >f this argument was proved by the act that practically all of the higher mgineering positions in New.- Zealand it the present, time were filled by men rained in New Zealand under the old .ystem. Under the present system the ninds of the boys in the works were icing poisoned, and it was impossible to each them properly. Mr. Mitchell conended that, even if ■unessential work cere cut out, it was going' to be difficult ihortly to keep the snaps working. There was work that must be done, but t could not be carried out by apprenices alone. The only solution that he .■oald see was that the skilled men who ■ematned would have to be employed vith unskilled workers doing the less lifficult work under proper supervision. DIFFICULTIES OF PLUMBERS' TRAINING. The President of the Master 'lumbers' Association • (Mr. W. Judd) tated that the ■ plumbing trade was beng hampered by the shortage of work■rs, due in a great part to .the enlistaent of journeymen and apprentices vho were nearing the end of their term. Another reason for the shortage, however, lay in the fact that work was very year increasing. All small bor'nghs were installing drainage and rater systems, and this meant a contant demand for experienced plumbers, lot only to instal, .but to maintain, the ystems and act as inspectors. The exlansion of the trade made it more imlerative that they should have men in raining. Actually, however, they were tot training enough to make good the wastage of ordinary times, much less the vastagp consequent on the war. . The iroportion of apprentices to journeymen lad been reduced- from one to each ourneyman to one to each two journeyoen. In some cases master plumbers ould keep their quota filled, especially f their premises were in a working-class listrict, so that, the boys had not to ravel far from their homes by trains, iome other plumbers found it almost mpossible to get boys. Inadequacy 'of he wages could not be set down as the ause since many employers were paying -bove th.* rates specified in the award, 'robably one reason lay in the condiions affecting training. With only one joy to two men, the boy had to be contantly kept on work which had necesarily to be done by a manfand a boy— uch as roof work. This was not the nosf. attractive branch of the trade; 'et it was impossible under present onditions to see that a boy had equal ime on it and on. the lighter and moro jobs. In former years it was >ossible to have a boy with the same ourneyman for a long perioii. The oameym^n sgggeguentYy became jnter-,

ested in the lad, who also had the advantage of an all-round experience of the trade. The fact that the trade did not attract boys to a considerable extent might also be attributed to the fact that parents and the lads themselves when the boys left school chose a blind-alley occupation because of the greater present emolument offered, and because there was no need to study and pass examinations. An organised, effort should be made- to prevent this by prevailing upon the education authorities to point out to lads leaving school the greater advantages of skilled trades, and having facilities to bring boys wishing to learn a trade into touch with the employers prepared tc take them. Plumbing was a highly skilled trade, with great opportunities for advancement, either in the study of sanitary science leading to the appointment of inspectors, or in setting up in business in the rising provincial towns. The devotion of evenings to study was distasteful to some youths, but it would be impossible to release apprentices for a whole afternoon to attend the technical 1 schools. A way out might be found by allowing apprentices off a. little earlier so that they might attend the classes before 6 o'clock. Better attendance at technical, classes might, be obtained by having the examination in sections, to be taken each two years, so that the lad would know what progress he had made, instead of having to work the whole six years with no intermediate goal.. This'proposal had been before the Plumbers' Board for some time, but had not been adopted. ' . UNSKILLED LABOUR' IN ELECTRICAL TRADES. A leading electrician said he could find any number of'boys to take up the trade if there were no restrictions on the proportion of assistants. At present one assistant was allowed rfor each licensed wireman, and none but licensed wiremeh could work on a job alone. These restrictions, he held,; prevented employers from training the boys,properly and bo arranging their work that the assistants had a variety' of experience. Not all jobs were two-handed, and if the work to be done weTe simple the journeyman could easily give his assistant instructions and "leave him to carry it out. All employers would, for their own credit, inspect the job to see that it was satisfactorily done, and in all wiring work there was also inspection by the Corporation and perhaps by the insurance company. "To show you how absurd this absolute, restriction is," eaid the electrician, "you, could come in here and- buy. fittings, and without knowing ■anything about the work, could take them home and adjust them yourself; but I could riot send 1 a boy with two or three years' experience to do it for you." Employing more assistants would not mean flooding . the market with tradesmen. They were scarce enough now, and. with the growing popularity of electricty for lighting,, heating, cooking, etc., the demand would not nearly be supplied in the future. The only way to get the work done would be to permit a measure of dilution with unskilled labour. Why should a licensed wireman be compelled to chip away at a brick; wall so as to fix a pipe conduit for wires? An unskilled labourer could do that work quite as well and with perfect safety under supervision. The •wireman would then be free_ to engage in the skilled work solely, improving his earning capai city, and cheapening the cost of the work to the public. Certainly something would have to be done shortly to increase the number of skilled electricians. All who -were in any way competent were not in constant weekly employment—not day wages—and firms were obliged to refuse contracts because they could not obtain the labour. The remedies he suggested were', the division of ' labour between skilled and unskilled or partially skilled men,- and the relaxation of restrictions I on the number and methods of employment of assistants. ■ ■.