APPRENTICE QUESTION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 8 September 1923, Page 2

APPRENTICE QUESTION.

"OVER-EDUCATION OF BOYS.'' 1 ■"""'

Discussing tho Apprentices Act, which was recently- passed by Parka* ment, Mr. Albert topeneer, president of the Auckland Provincial Employers' Association, said that in his opinion' there was far too much over-education of boys nowadays, with the result that nearly ail the. boys looked for "blackcoated" and "respectable" jobs, .instead of turning their minds to trades which called for the oreative manual faculty. That tendency, he thought, was not an indiction of idleness, rather was it due to over-education, which had the effect of causing boys to belittle the technical side of things. The spirit of craftsmanship, which was so finely" fostered by the ancient trade guilds in the Old Country, was now, unfortunately, a thing of the past. It- would bs a splendid move, if it were posbioxe, tv i^ViV-e- sume or that old opiriD oi cratt emulation, tor it would uo iar moie u^ inciea.se wie number of apprentices —and, consequently, of s^uiieu workmen, than any legislation that couiu be t>rougnt iorwaru. borne or tnose uoys who carried on higher study were quite unfitted tor a piueay proiessionai nxe^ ana, having never entertained the idea oi a traue apprenticeship, it loiioweu that when tuny unaiiy completed their euucation, they dntl>ed into "blind-alley" occupations, and in many instance;* tended to swell the ranks 01 the unemployed, or rather the unemployable. The best arm most telling way to augment the number of apprentices was, in Mr. Spencer's view, to instil in the minus oi the boys themselves a real appreciation, of the value of the creative, manual work, a delight in the tools of trade they were to enter, and an ambition to obtain skill in their manipulation. The secondary industries of New Zealand were faced with

real danger, tiu© to the shortage of „ skilled workmen. Thai/ meant that the Dominion's industries were handicap- * ped, and the importation of loreigumade goods wouid rapidly increase. J More particularly did this apply to boot manuracture, the manufacture of cloth- { ing, and to certain phases of the en- s gineering trade. ] Dominion industries which, suffered '* severely from lack of apprentices were " iron-moulding, blacksmith's work, ] bricklaying and plastering. One indus- ] try, that of watch repairing, could sup- j ply only one apprentice. Watch- i repairiug was done at piece-work, and : the men who now did the work were, naturally, not anxious to break their own monopoly by taking on appren- . tices. in that connection, it was i satisfactory to knojv that the Apprenj tices Bill carried.a clause under which the Arbitration Court would have the power to require an employer to employ apprentices ,to ensure an adequate supply of journeymen. In the clothing industry, there was a great shortage of cutters, and that again could be remedied by training more apprentices ( A clause m the Bill to which Mr. • Spencer attached importance was that which deals with the forming of technical schools for training apprentices in any special trade in which it was shown that there was a dearth of boys , undergoing apprenticeship. The for- ; mation_ of such schools, said Mr . Spencer, would tend to break down the walls of monopoly, which at presoii.t : were keeping out those boys who were seeking useful avenues of employment. I In putting forward the -workers' I views upon the Bill, Mr. T. Bloodworth ' said it would give to the Arbitration ! Court wider powers in the matter of apprenticeship than it had before, but j the Court might delegate its? duties in this respect to local apprenticeship; committees, which might : .fee formed by' '.agreement oF the parties in any indus- j try, or set up by order of the. Court ' Ihis seemed to. be a very proper, and ' at the same time a very important pro- ' vision. . The circumstances of any i given industry differed very oonsider•ably, from those of other industries, and these circumstances, together with the provisions neoessary to meet them I were best understood by persons actl ' «& C9 nnecl>ed with that industry It these committees undertake their work with a full sense of their responsibilities," said Mr. Bloodworth "I am of opinion that they can do a lot of CW4 n? C<? reli eve the Arbitration ■W^ ?h mUCh W°rk- If ' °" the Ot^r hand they are not set up, or being set up, do not function properly, then it appears to me the work of the ArbPtracreisedv" «™™°™ly in-,

n^f °ill nio? was by Mr Bloodwarth that the Pill wou ld w solve^all tjH> problems affeiti^g apprSnspace of time provide the ri^ht proportion of skilled operatives for each industry "That will not come untS the status of. the various trades is basis for fixing minimum wages is regarded as one. of the curious etistoms oi a people who, having onoe been regarded as progressive, came to the coninTK 11 i hat r'° grf SS in looking backwards and standing still '»