ELECTRICAL WIREMEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19916, 9 April 1928, Page 11

ELECTRICAL WIREMEN.

GRANTING of certificates. CONDITIONS IN AUCKLAND. The statement made by Mr. Justice Frazer in the Arbitration Court in Wellintgon, to the effect that the conditions under which tho granting of electrical wiremen's licences had been made in Auckland had been very lax, was referred to by Mr. R. 11. Bartley, general manager for the Auckland Electric-Power Board. Mr. Bartley said the conditions in Auckland had been no worse than elsewhere.

Tho Power Board had undertaken the granting of certificates in Auckland since 1921, and since that time every care had been taken in qualifying only thoroughly competent men. The board had rejected hundreds of applications for licences since that time.

Trior to 3921, before the present Act came into force, tho City Council had granted tho licences, and there was no evidence to show that this work.had not been performed satisfactorily. The conditions under which tho licences were granted were the same as those imposed in the southern centres. The old system under which the council had been forced to work left a great deal to be desired. For example, a licensed wireman could not be deprived of his licence on account of incompetent work; he might have his licence endorsed time and again, but that was all. The present system under the Act, although ari improvement, was not entirely satisfactory in every respect, added Mr. Bartley.