THE APPRENTICES’ ACT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3801, 18 January 1927, Page 26

THE APPRENTICES’ ACT.

, OCCUPATIONS FOR BOYS. INQUIRIES IN WELLINGTON. WELLINGTON, January 12. In pursuance of the provisions of the Apprentices’ Act the Department of Labour asked the head teachers of the primary schools to submit reports on all boys leaving’ school at the end of the year, and the boys and their parents have been invited by the department to indicate the kind of employment desired to be taken up, the idea being that the department should assist the boys as far as possible in obtaining employment _jn suitable occupations, and especially to steer them into skilled trades and to avoid their taking up blind alley occupations.

'Mr F. W. Rowley, Secretary of Labour, who has taken a special interest in the question of assisting boys in starting on their life’s work, stated to-day. that the department had received reports from head teachers upon 730 boys leaving school at , the end of the yoar. .Of this number 335 are . proceeding to secondary schools, and the remainder have specified the occupations they wish to take up. So far, however, not one employer has approached the department for boys. The department has ' advertised in the newspapers intimating ..that boys have applied, and asking employers to communicate with the department with the view of employing" some of these boys. ■ .“We are also writing' to the organisa- ‘ tibns df ■ employers' in the different skilled trades,” ' 1 Mr Rowley, “asking them to

use their best endeavours with their members to have a number of boys taken on. No doubt the employers in some cases will say that they are barred from taking on boys by reason of the restriction to the number of apprentices to journeymen. The quota allowed by the Court of Arbitration has been filled in only two trades — namely, cabinet-making and plumbing, in respect of which we have 44 boys wishing to take up cabinet-making and 18 wishing to take up plumbing. ' These cannot, of course, be placed, but in the other occupations there is nothing _ in the proportion of apprentices provision to prevent the boys from being engaged. It might bl 5 worth while to point out- that it is not the Act itself that places restriction upon the employment pf boys but the proportion of apprentices is fixed by the Arbitration Court under the Act. The court may fix the proportion at time it thinks best. We cannot, of lourse, expect employers to take on all these boys whether they a -want them or not, although there is provision in the Act empowering the Arbitration Court to require employers in. any particular industry to train their fair share of the journeymen of the future. It may be . explained that' this provision was inserted in the Act at the suggestion of several representative employers themselves, they being of the opinion that while some employers endeavour to carry out their moral obligations by training up a number of apprentices to meet the requirements of the future, there are other employers who make no attempt to' do so. There has been no instance yet where the court has takeif steps to'require'"the employment of a miniminn' number of. apprentices. , It may be. of interest to note that a similar question haa arisen

in France, and a recent report upon an investigation of the matter there indicated that a proposal is under consideration by which a boy would be suitably trained and the cost of the training would be met by means of a levy upon the employers ~in the industries concerned.

“The question of steering the boys into the_ most suitable occupations and providing skilled labour for the future in order that our industries may be adequately provided for is one that affects the general public, and it is a question that the public ought, as far as possible, to take a keen interest in, because it is a subject which, after all, vitally affects not only the boys, but also all classes of the people. The employers, on the one hand, and the workmen on the other, are not so vitally interested. As one employer has put it, the employers in any industry carry on then’ business with whatever labour is available, whether it is good or bad, and they make their charges and their profits according to what they have, to pay, and so they carry pn, simply .making the best of the labour and material that is .available, but it is the public which has to pay.”

POSITION IN AUCKLAND.

NO ACTION BY EMPLOYERS. .. .- AUCKLAND, January'l3.. There seems to be no disposition on the part of Auckland employers to take advantage pf. the provisions of the .‘Apprentices Ac* under which a. certain proportion of apprentices, is allowed to . each trade. The records of the Auckland office: of the Labour Department, show that since the end of the school year to date 231

boys have applied to be apprenticed to trades, most of them specifying tfie particular occupation they desire to take up, but not one employer has asked the department for boys. It is not thought that this represents all tne boys who have just left school, and are desirous of learn- ? n K, a , ti'ade- The reason for this belief is that last year a total of 271 boys regis- ™ ej? i” to I<; s purpose has prevented Sass to call a conference early next month nF the V Au l ckUnd PPr ( i e - n t iC ’ e ! hip comm ittecs of tne Auckland district to discuss anprenticeship problems in ai endeavour o reach some solution of the present difficulty. A suggestion for this conference has come from the Building Trades Apprenticeship Committee. It is felt that only by getting the opinions of practical men will the. present unsatisfactory position be remedied. Arrangements for the conference are now being made by the officers of the Auckland Office of the Labour Department.