APPRENTICES FUTURE TRADESMEN

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 36, 11 August 1934, Page 8

APPRENTICES FUTURE TRADESMEN

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Seing that tho apprentices of today will be our future tradesmen and citizens, cannot something be done to encourage employers to retain the j vices of their apprentices on completing their time? Through no fault of their employers, many apprentices have not J had sufficient opportunity to become1 efficient tradesmen, owing to insufficient work, during the last few years. A boy is then thrown out of work and cannot compete with older tradesmen. I know of earnest, capable boys in this predicament —boys who aro anxious to learn and work and who would be glad to continue as improvers at £2 per week, or oven less. These boys have been taxed, yet what is done for them 'when out of' work? Give tho employers a chance to come to an agreement with their boys and keep them employed. One man suggested to mo that this would keep older menx oitt of work, but tho number of present-day apprentices would not seriously affect tho trade. Later a T>oy will bo able to learn his trade in five years when things improve a|id the position can be reviewed. I havo two boys apprenticed, and depend on their earnings, being a widow. Is not that position even more serious than tho woman who has a husband, who at least can get relief? Is it too much'to askto give these boys somo hope of being competent tradesmen. The outlook is very depressing to an apprentice finishing at a. time like this, and many an employer would be glad of the opportunity to retain their boys, but cannot afford tho improvers' wage demanded at present.—l am, etc., WORRIED PARENT.

With reference to a recent paragraph on the loss of the Waratah, "Seaman" writes that it was not her first trip back from Australia, but her second. "Tho Waratah left Tilbury Dock on November 5, 190S, on her maiden voyage, and arrived in Sydney on Boxing Day, the day of the Burns and Johnson light. Sbo disappeared in July, 1909. As one who made tho maiden voyage in her I qnito cndor.se tho comments as reported in I he paragraph.