Military Service Not Apprenticeship, Employers Argue

Grey River Argus, 12 October 1949, Page 8

Military Service Not Apprenticeship, Employers Argue

WELLINGTON, October 11

Mr A. O. Heany, secretary of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, stated: “The Military Training Bill—the general purposes of which my Association wholeheartedly supports — has been reported back to the House of Representatives without amendment in an important provision on which my Association submitted evidence to the Committee of the House dealing with the Bill. Clause 66 still provides that the time occupied in military service by an apprentice shall be deemed to be time served tinder a contract of apprenticeship for the purpose of computing the period of apprenticeship. It is considered that the training of an apprentice of necessity requires that a certain period of time should be devoted to the acquisition of knowledge of the trade concerned. The eeffet of the clause is, therefore, to reduce the amount of time to be spent by an apprentice in learning his trade. Serious anomalies could occur as a result of this provision. For example, one apprentice who is Within the age group for registration at the coming into force of the legislation, will be required to work a smaller number of hours to qualify at his trade than another in the same trade, whose age places him outside the requirements of the legislation. In addition, it is pointed but that recent changes in apprenticeship contracts have had the effect of reducing the period of practical training required and any further reduction, such as provided for in the Bill, can only have a detrimental effect on the practical knowledge, through experience, of the apprentice concerned. It is also impracticable for all trades to be covered”.