DR HANSEN SPEAKS ON ELECTRICAL TRAINING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19237, 26 November 1930, Page 5

DR HANSEN SPEAKS ON ELECTRICAL TRAINING.

The need for study was stressed by Dr D. E. Hansen, principal of the Christchurch Technical College, in an address on the training of the electrical apprentice, given to the Christchurch Electric Traders and Contractors’ Association in the Chamber of Commerce last evening. Mr H. Burke presided. Out of 453 trade students in the evening classes at the Christchurch Technical College on June 30, 1929, only eighteen, or 4 per cent, were set down as electricians, said Dr Hansen. On the same date the figures for all the schools of the Dominion showed 302 electricians in a total of 3152 trade students, or approximately 9.6 per cent. Of the figures showing men entering for the registration examination for electrical wiremen, Christchurch had twenty-five candidates, of which seven passed, and thirteen candidates out of thirty-seven received passes in the practical part—percentages of 28 and 35, as compared with the Dominion averages of 26 and 49 per cent of passes respectively. This suggested that more should be done both for and by the wiremen in preparation for exaihinations and also for their better training for their trade. The electrical wireman’s job was not one of unskilled labour, said Dr Hansen. It called for dexterous use of tools, and an understanding of the elements of electricity besides a knowledge of the by-laws governing electrical installations. There would be tens of thousands of motors in use in the Dominion before many years, and the electricians would be expected to have a considerable knowledge of their working. A vote of thanks to Dr Hansen, proposed by Mr W. V. Ross and seconded by Mr C. R. Watkinson, was carried by acclamation.