ENGINEERING PROFESSION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21164, 22 April 1932, Page 7

ENGINEERING PROFESSION.

EFFECT OF DEPRESSION. PROPOSALS FOR EMPLOYMENT. Efforts to obtain employment for members of the engineering and surveying professions who have been thrown out of work by industrial depression are being made by a committee recently formed in Auckland. The committee consists of Messrs. T. V. Gulliver, E. V. Blake, C. K. Grierson, F. E. do Guerrier, D. Holderness, W. McK. Jeffrey, G. A. Lee and Professor Lamb, and they are of the opinion that there is a need for far mora professional advice on .the various relief work projects than is being sought at present. In a memorandum presented "to the Labour Department, the committee states that in many instances locjil bodies had dispensed with the services of their regular engineers or surveyors on the score of ,economy and then, without professional engineering advice of any kind had proceeded with the expenditure of largo sums on relief works. Such a policy could result only in the aggravation of the- present position, with consequent delay to the. country's economic recovery. It was suggested that public bodies conducting relief works should be urged to retain the services of their ' regular professional advisers, even if a considerable redaction in salary were necessary for this to be done. If there was no professional adviser, the Labour Department should stress the necessity for an appointment from professional men in the district, or from a roster of unemployed professional men. Large schemes were now contemplated and men trained as engineers and surveyors wero urgently. needed 'to supervise' the 'work and'ensnre that it was bfeing carried out correctly and economically. Junior Supervisors or foremen in charge of gangs would be icquired and a large number of engineering and surveying assistants would be available for these positions.' The committee, has commenced the compilation of a roster of all registered engineers, surveyors and qualified assistants in the province who aro out of work and willing to accept employment on the lines suggested in tho ■ memorandum. If the committee's suggestions moe't .with the approval of the Minister in charge of Unemployment, tho roster will bo placed at 1110 disposal of tho Labour Department.