SCHEME GOING ON

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20634, 14 August 1941, Page 9

SCHEME GOING ON

TRAINING WORKERS BUILDING INDUSTRY URGENT NEED OF HOUSES (Per Press Association,) WELLINGTON, this day. “I want to say emphatically that this scheme of training of these men is going on,” declared the Minister oi Labour, the Hon. P. C. Webb, in an interview’ to-day, when referring tc. protests made by carpenters’ organisations against the establishment of an auxiliary training school at Wellington for carpenters and other workers essential to the building trade. Mr. Webb referred to the great need of homes for the people and of the Government’s determination to do everything that lay in its power to meet that demand. The Minister said he was satisfied that the people responsible for the resolutions that had been passed lacked an appreciation of the shortage of housing accommodation. “Thousands of our young men, who are now overseas, have left their wives at home with their parents,” continued Mr. Webb. “There are 20,000 applications for State houses. Already housing construction has been held up because of the lack of skilled men. The Government’s desire to push on with utmost speed the construction of homes for the people, necessitates the conversion of a lot of semi-skilled and unskilled manual labour into skilled labour, and the utilisation of that energy to greater economic purpose. Deplorable Conditions “The conditions under which many of our people are living, especially in the cities, is deplorable and the least I might have expected from some of these carpenters’ unions would be their whole-hearted co-operation in the establishment of a scheme enabling more men to do this essential work. I am sure that if the carpenters’ unions had to listen to the appeals of the mothers of children, who are compelled to live in rooms under unhealthy conditions, and if they visited some of the places in which their own fellow-workers have got to live, they would have a full appreciation of the Government’s desire to leave no stone unturned towards the speedy construction of more suitable accommodation for our people. “I want to say emphatically that the scheme of training of these men is going on. We have thousands of unskilled men who are capable of performing more useful national purpose and whose energies should be utilised to the fullest extent.” Training- on Houses Mr. Webb explained that the scheme being arranged provided for the auxiliary workers being trained on State houses under competent instructors appointed for the purpose. The training included workshop practice, as well as construction work on the dwellings. The scheme would advance only in accordance with the need shown for the training of the men. The Minister drew attention to the fact that every precaution had been taken to safeguard the interests of the men already in the industry. He said that clause 12 of the auxiliary workers’ training emergency regulations provided that an auxiliary worker, on completion of his training, shall not be engaged while there was a qualified worker in the same class out of employment on the register of the local union, and no qualified worker shall be dismissed merely by the reason of the fact that an auxiliary worker had been engaged.