APPRENTICESHIP ORDERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3769, 8 June 1926, Page 76

APPRENTICESHIP ORDERS.

an interesting point. CHRISTCHURCH, June 3. An interesting point that has arisen under the general apprenticeship orders has been settled by the Arbitration Court. During its recent sittings in Christchurch the court was asked to give its interpretation on the following question: “Is an employer entitled to count in such calculation all journeymen employed by him during the six months prior to the taking, on of a new apprentice, no matter how short the period of their employment, so long as the average number employed during such period is equivalent to the two-thirds full-time employment of the number required by the order?” The court’s opinion is as follows: “The object of the clause is to ascertain the number of journeymen normally employed. The taking of the arithmetical average is, in most cases, the simplified method of arriving at the normal number employed. H one man leaves during the six-monthly period and is replaced by another, the two men count as one. The registrar should not rely on the strict arithmetical average, however. If an unusual temporary increase in the number of journeymen has been caused by the undertaking of some non-recurring piece of work he should, in such a case, disregard the excess number cf journeymen whose employment was necessitated by the special work, and calculate the average apart from this factor. This method will give a normal average, which it is the object of the court to regard as the true test rather than a strict arithmetical average which may in certain circumstances depart from the normal.”