PLUMBING BYLAWS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 125, 23 November 1926, Page 11

PLUMBING BYLAWS

COMPLAINT AGAINST LOCAL BODIES

FAILURE TO ENFORCE THE LAW

A-complaint that the Plumbers' Registration Act is being properly administered, in that bylaws made by local bodies under the Act, requiring certain classes of plumbing to bo (lone by registered operatives, are not being enforced, was made to the Minister of Health last night by a deputation from the New Zealand Plumbers' Federation. The president of the federation, Mr. F. Harridge, pointed out that tho Act distinctly said that a plumber must pass an examination, and be licensed as a registered plumber by a local body, before he could undertake certain plumbing work. Some local bodies, however, were not observing the law in respect to the employment of licensed men on those.classes of work which the law prescribed should be performed only by registered men. The federation thought when the Plumbers' Board was set up that it would have power I to see that the. Act was enforced as it | was written, but they found that it was a farcical body wholly and solely for the purpose of conducting examinations. ] The Act laid down penalties for j breaches of its provisions, but the ! board had no power to enforce the Act. The Minister remarked that he supposed a prosecution could bo initiated by anyone. WELLINGTON A BAD OFFENDER. Mr. Harridge urged the Minister to use moral suasion, or legal force if necessary, to see that the bylaws were administered. He said that deputations had approached the local bodies without success, and that members of the federation had been victimised by their employers for laying informations of failure to administer the law in respect to the employment of registered men. Wellington was the worst -town in the Dominion in the matter of breaches. He knew men who had worked in the city for a considerable time and had never seen an inspector on the job. The speaker suggested that the Health Department should employ inspectors of its own to prosecute under the Health Act. Mr. H. Thompson, secretary of the federation, referred to specific eases of breaches of the bylaws, and remarked that they were of a particularly glaring nature in Wellington. He offered to furnish evidence in substantiation of allegations which he made both against employers and against tho Plumbers' Board, which he said had not replied to certain complaints made by the federation. Some employers who were not registered employed nonregistered men, and in contravention of the Act put them on to sanitary plumbing work. Referring to the Wellington bylaws, he said they were 20 or 30 years out of date so far as plumbing and drainage work was concerned. LETTER TO.LOCAL BODIES. The Minister (the Hon. J. A. Young) said he would like to hear the master plumbers' side of the case. He pointed out that the Plumbers' Board was set up to establish uniformity in the standard of workmanship throughout the Dominion by conducting examinations, and it was not called upon to administer the Act. If tho federation would supply him with particulars in regard to the r..'. n.tions of neglect on the part of the board he would have them inquired into. Ho understood it was competent for officers of the Health Department to prosecute, but that it was not customary to do so in boroughs and municipalities which had drafted their own bylaws. Mr. Young said [ that if the federation could give definite information of neglect on the part of local authorities he would instruct the Department to ask the local bodies to enforce their own bylaws more strictly, in the interests of public health. Many of the local bodies had adopted the stringent bylaws which had been drawn up by tho Department, and tho Department wished to encourage rural bodies to adopt some control over the sanitary arrangements which came under their control. Many of them, however, would object to the bylaws if they thought they were going to be enforced severely. The chairman of the Plumbers' Board, who was present, stated that some local bodies complained that they had the greatest difficulty in getting evidence of breaches. The Minister said he would instruct the Department to see, so far as possible, that the law was carried out.