APPRENTICES

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 91, 17 April 1923, Page 11

APPRENTICES

to the editor.

■Sir,—"Observer," while admitting the necessity for a drastic amendment to the Master and Apprentices Act, questions the expediency of statutory control, and suggests that the Arbitration Court, which has power to fix conditions of apprenticeship, should be left undisutrbed m its administration. The Court, has had this control since it was constituted, and more than 20 years have passed, and the conditions governingl the employment of learners in the skilled industries have become'deplorable. The Court, in all its awards, has failed to realise that the apprentice is a learner in the induEtry, and, having- no knowledge of the requirements of the industries in skill and ability, it has made no provision for the protection of the apprentice as a learner, or the welfare of the skilled industries as such. j On many occasions, to my knowledge, I the representatives of ,• more than one skilled industry have placed before the Court demands for urgent reforms in the" treatment of apprentices, but the Court has.in every case rejected the assistance offered, and reimpoaed the conditions which have, in their application, dona more to destroy apprenticeship, and th» desire to enter the skilled industries, than all the differences in wages referred to 4>y "Observer." The Court, in its judgment, has not always been guided by the evidence submitted, but has always given careful consideration to tho demands of the profit-making- section of the community, whose interests have always appeared to the Court of mor* consequence. than the national welfare. The Court's lack of appreciation of true values is the outcome of its. constitution. i With no personal knowledge of the | skilled industries, and dominated by a President who has a legal training only, the Court seems more concerned about precedents, right or. wrong, points -of procedure, and points of law than what is best in the interests of the skilled industries. That is the reason that, the only hope of improvement lies in an amendment to the statute, framed by the united experience of those engaged in, and interested in, the Skilled industries, which will secure that the national welfare, so far as the skilled industries are concerned, will not be jeopardised. It is to be hoped that the united .efforts of the experts called together by the Minister will produce an. Act which will at least reach _ the standard attained in G.reat Britain, Australia, and America, our chief competitors. These countries have established a committee of experts to deal with all matters pertaining to apprenticeship, and already great improvements are taking place.—l am, etc., SKILLED ARTISAN. 16th April.