RECORD NUMBER OF APPRENTICES IN NEW ZEALAND

Grey River Argus, 24 February 1949, Page 8

RECORD NUMBER OF APPRENTICES IN NEW ZEALAND

If the figures for the first half of the current year are maintained, New Zealand will, for the second successive year, establish a new record in the number of apprenticeship contracts taken out, according to the Commissioner of Apprenticeships, Mr H. C. McQueen, who is visiting Greymouth.

Already, for the six months to September 30, 1949 new boys were apprenticed, while the figure for the whole of 1947-48 was 3496, the highest total ever recorded in the country.

To-day there are 12703 boys under apprenticeship contracts throughout the Dominion, exclusive of boys employed in Government departments. Of this number, 185 are on the West Coast (including Buller and Inangahua), and in some trades the number of apprentices in this district is proportionately higher than in many parts of New Zealand. Mr McQueen pointed out that there were 13 apprentice bakers, which was a total exceeded only in Auckland and Dunedin. This was due largely to the use of bread-making machines in many centres. Shortly there will be established a school for bakers in conjunction with the Wheat Research Institute, and apprentices will be given a course of training in the trade in Christchurch.

Another industry on the West Coast attracting a large proportion of apprentices was the carpentry trade, there being 45 under training at the present time. Sixteen are training in the electrical trade, 31 in motor engineering, 27 in general engineering, 16 in the furniture trade and 14 as plumbers. In the past six months, 26 boys have commerced training on the West Coast, in proportion to the number engaged in each trade. Carpentry and motor engineering are the most popular trades here, as in most parts of New Zealand. UPWARD TREND

Before the depression, there were about 10,000 apprentices in the Dominion said Mr McQueen. This dropped down to 3000 and had built up again to about 10,000 in 1940. Figures wavered during the war years, with an exceptional number in 1947 when many returned men completed their apprenticeships which were broken by war service. However, to-day the figures of apprentices represented almost wholly those who had gone through continuous training. There was an upward trend all over New Zealand in the number of boys undertaking apprenticeships. “It is significant,” said Mr McQueen “that so many thousands of boys are prepared to undertake apprenticeships at 35s a week, when they could get jobs as office boys or messengers at £3 and more a week. It shows that parents and boys alike are looking much more to the future than depending on better paid occupations to start with.

MORE OFFERING THAN JOBS The limited' number of industries on the West Coast employing apprentices is a factor in creating the problem of having more boys wishing to become apprentices than firms can employ,”- said Mr McQueen. “It looks as if West Coast boys will have to leave home in some instances, in order to become apprentices,” he said. “The same is true of many other country towns, where there are not sufficient industries to absorb them.”