APPRENTICES

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 15, 19 January 1927, Page 8

APPRENTICES

SKILLED TRADES

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

"Some of the correspondents in the-" newspapers appear to consider that the responsibility for the difficulties, expressed by employers in regard to the taking on of boys rests with the Government through the passing of the Apprentices Act and other legislation," said the Hon. G. J. Anderson, Minister of Labour, yesterday. '' These correspondents do not set out precisely what the difficulties are. The difficulties, if they really exjst, are not due to the Act. The Arbitration Court acts as a board of control under the Act, and as such makes orders regularly as to apprenticeships in the various trades.

"The object of the Act is to facilitate and encourage the employment of boys, particularly in the skilled trades; and it is suggested that employers or any other persons interested in the matter who feel that there is any obstacle in the way should communicate with the Department setting out the difficulties. For example, the Government and the Act have been blamed for the proportion of apprentices that has been fixed iv various industries.'' It is not the Act itself that fixes the proportion, but the orders of the Court and any representations on the subject or the proportion of apprentices Bhould be made by way of an application to ttie Court for review by any of the parties concerned.

It might b'c added that the Act itsel.t was unanimously agreed upon by a representative conference of employ-i ers and workers concerned throughout Aew Zealand; .and, moreover, molt if no. all, of the orders of the Court which include the provision as to the proportion of apprentices have been made by tho Court on the recommendation of tho, Apprenticeship Committees, lhese committees comprise representatives of the employers and workScaSie^^r 1" ilUUlStrieS -aUd "There is certainly nothing ;in• the Act nor. ,„ the orders of the .. Court TW. 1 ?, CV; eSJ M su&& cst«l by '.'The tnln"ir } correspondent 'Wholesale Manufacturer,' any employer to employ any particular boy. The employer has full control over the quesSeOy°h- n ?t P~s sh»"