THE APPRENTICES ACT

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 11011, 26 January 1926, Page 3

THE APPRENTICES ACT

FULL OF OPPORTUNITIES. PREVENTING “BLIND ALLEYS.” AUCKLAND, Jan. 18. Parents are beginning to realise the value of the opportunities created by the Apprentices Act of having their boys placed as apprentices in trades. Already this year 95 applications have been received by the Auckland office of the Labor Department from boys desirous of being apprenticed. The Apprentices Act provides that the headmasters must advise the Labor Department of the boys leaving school, and from the report received the officers of the Department have been- able to gain a fair idea o; their qualifications and tendencies. Circulars are then sent out to the parents of the boys who are about to commence work, and applications from those who desire to enter the trades follow. By this means boys are able to state their preference for a particular trade, and it is then the duty or the Labor Department to endeavor to place them satisfactorily. The applications received so far relate to the following trades:—Bricklaying 5 boys, carpentering Id, engineer, general S, electrical 8, motor 1(>, furniture 9, plastering 8, plumbing IS, printing 4, and signwriting 3. Bomb boys have already been placed with employers who have stated their requirements to the Department, and others will be accommodated as the vacancies are notified.

Last year over 100 boys were found apprenticeships by tiie Department, and ‘now that the scheme is becoming more generally known very satisfactory resiilts are expected, while' headmasters and the officers of the Department have carried out their part under the Act to a. point of searching out the boys most likely to find their life’s work in trades. Lt remains for employers to make known any openings they may have. A few have done this with very satisfactory results, and when an employer, as a mat teg of course, applies to the Department for an apprentice the system will prove of the greatest value to the industry, and at the same time save many potential first-class tradesmen from drifting into “blind alley” occupations.