REPEAL OF APPRENTICES ACT

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1934, Page 6

REPEAL OF APPRENTICES ACT

PETITION BEFORE PARLIAMENT.

CHANGED CONDITIONS CLAIMED.

(By Wire—Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, Last Night.

According to a petition presented to Parliament by Mr. J. Hargest (Co., Invercargill) this afternoon the provisions of the Apprentices Act, 1923, do not meet with the approval of some employers of skilled labour. The petition, which is signed on behalf of 17 Invercargill firms, asks for the' repeal of the Act and its amendments an,d the reversion to the former system of making provision for apprentices in industrial awards and agreements.

The petitioners state that the general shortage of labour from 1914 to 1920 and the resultant high wages obtainable by unskilled workers created a natural reluctance on the part of boys, supported in some instances by their parents, to enter trades as apprentices where lower wages were paid. The higher wages available for unskilled work led many boys to enter “blind alley” occupations and tempted partly-trained apprentices to seek higher wages in unskilled trades. “Because of this the Apprentices Act was passed,” the petitioners state. “The Act was designed to meet a set of circumstances which even before it became law had almost disappeared, and which for the last five years at least have been entirely unknown.” The motive behind the Act had been to encourage boys to enter skilled trades, but instead of achieving this purpose it had effectively reduced to a minimum the opportunities offering for boys desiring entry. In conclusion the petitioners express the opinion that as long as the Act remains on the Statute Book there will be no improvement in the present position.