APPRENTICES BILL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21347, 23 November 1932, Page 13

APPRENTICES BILL

COURT LOSES POWERS

TRANSFER TO NEW COUNCIL

MOST FUNCTIONS ASSUMED

[BY TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL REPORTER]

WELLINGTON, Tuesday

Although described as being mainly a consolidating measure, the Apprentices Bill, introduced in the House to-day, proposes an important change by transferring most of the powers now possessed by the Arbitration Court under the Apprentices Act of 1923 to an Apprenticeship Council. The Minister of Labour, the Hon. A. Hamilton, indicated that he did not desire to rush the bill through the House, and on his motion it was referred to the Labour Bills Committee for the hearing of evidence.

Tho Minister explained that a mere amending bill would leave the existing legislation in a form very difficult to comprehend. In general, it had been possible to adopt, with very little alteration, most of the existing provisions, but they had been rearranged under four headings of administration, contract of apprenticeship, employers and apprentices, and general, in order to group together as far as practicable all related provisions.

Transfer ol Powers

The general object of tho bill, in so far as it alters the existing law, is to deprive the Arbitration Court of its administration of the Act. This has been done partly by transferring to tho Minister tho Court's powers of appointing and discharging committees and enlarging and diminishing localities within which committees function, and appointing district registrars to exercise the functions of a committee where there is no committee. There has also been transferred to the Minister the Court's powers of applying operations of the Act to certain employers and apprentices, or exempting them from its operations. An important innovation is the establishment of an apprenticeship council, consisting of the Registrar of Apprentices, two representatives of employers in industries employing apprentices, and two representatives of workers in such industries. The Secretary of Labour now holds tho office of Registrar of Apprentices, but the bill proposes that the position of Registrar shall not be held concurrently, with any other office in tho Public Service. Any inspector of factories may bo appointed a district registrar of apprentices.

Making of Orders There will be transferred to the Apprenticeship Council the principal powers of tho Court for the making of apprenticeship orders and such questions as wages, hours and other conditions of employment, proportion of apprentices to journeymen, period of apprenticeship in any industry, minimum age for tho commencement. of an apprenticeship and the period of probation to be served by an apprentice. However, the power of requiring employers to employ apprentices has been dropped. The original Act gave the Court power to require any employer to employ such number of apprentices as it considered necessary to ensure an adequate supply of journeymen in tho interests of the industry. The Apprenticeship Council will also have transferred to it tho Court's present power of hearing and determining appeals, of controlling the functioning of committees and of making orders. Resolutions of the Apprenticeship Council can only bo passed by a majority which includes the Registrar. The only function left to the Arbitration Court is to fix payments, if any, to be made to apprentices on the bankruptcy of their employers. Speaking in tho House, the Minister said he was not desirous of rushing the bill through. " I do not think there will be any serious objection to the measure," said the Minister. "Tt may bo thought by some that it would be better to leave certain matters with the Court instead of transferring them to the Apprenticeship Council, but I think the new proposal will simplify tho procedure."