OVERSEAS ARTISANS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23284, 1 March 1939, Page 14

OVERSEAS ARTISANS

MR. HAMILTON'S REMARKS REPLY BY HON. R. SEMPLE [from our own correspondent] HAMILTON, Tuesday "The statement by the Hon. Adam Hamilton about the proposed importation of overseas artisans would be humorous if it was not so tragic," said the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. It. Semple, in commenting to-day on the published remarks of the Loader of the Opposition concerning the employment of artisans on public works. "The very Government with which Mr. Hamilton was associated destroyed the Apprentices Act and reduced the number of apprentices from 10,000 to 3000 and drove young men into slave camps for 10s a week, and by so doing created a gap that we are compelled to bridge to-day by bringing artisans from other countries," said Mr. Semple. "In other words, his Government was responsible for robbing New Zealand of one generation of artisans."

The Minister added that instead of employers being subsidised from the unemployment funds and young men being trained in trades and turned out competent tradesmen, rich concerns had benefited by the subsidised labour and young men worked in slave camps. The Minister said that the Public Works Department was short of skilled tradesmen. On one job alone where a wall was being built near Wellington to fight the sea they could do with ] 2 more carpenters. There was also a shortage of tradesmen for the hydroelectric scheme at Waikaremoana. To meet that position the department was training as many young men as it could, and its efforts to train young Maori men in North Auckland' were mooting with groat success. "The same idea of training our own men is going on as fast as possible throughout New Zealand," said Mr. Senipie. "There is not a tradesman in the Public Works Department who is not employed at his own trade."