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to ke«i> in close touch with all the apprentices in their respective districts, and to see that the interests ail-both boys and employers in all matters of training.and conduct are safeguarded. They would have the right to enter factories and workshops, in the same way as Inspectors of Factories. We believe that a greatjmajority of employers would welcome the visits of men whoso business it was to take an interest in the progress of apprentices and in their training. Many employers take that interest themselves already, and would like to share it with some one from outside ; moreover, both employer and apprentice would have a chance to discuss relatively small matters which at present are nobody's business but which so often result in unnecessary friction. The very existence of these officers would encourage employers to concern themselves actively in the training of their apprentices and to make sure that they are getting adequate experience. The Deputy Commissioners, because of their direct knowledge of the nature of the work carried on by employers, and of the facilities for training of apprentices possessed by them, would be in the position to render valuable assistance to the Committees when deciding whether to approve of contracts of apprenticeship, transfers of apprentices, and schedules of training. DOMINION APPRENTICESHIP ORDERS Many witnesses from all sections of industry urged on us the advisability of Dominion apprenticeship orders in each industry, and we recommend that the Act should be amended to provide for such orders and such orders only. Dominion orders will cover the whole of New Zealand, and there will thus be no areas in which there are apprentices not covered by an order, as there are at present. Calculations of the number of apprentices required in any industry need to be made on a Dominion-wide basis, for our population is relatively mobile, and so the proportion clauses in orders should be such as to allow of the requisite number of apprentices being engaged bver the whole country. Only Dominion orders can ensure that desirable uniformity, as well as uniformity of wage-rates and conditions of employment. The present multiplicity of district orders in the same industries, with their different dates of origin and their comparatively unnecessary variations in conditions of employment, is merely an embarrassment. DOMINION APPRENTICESHIP COMMITTEES There was almost universal agreement among our witnesses that there should be a Dominion Apprenticeship Committee for each industry or group of allied trades, and we recommend their formation. Each Dominion Committee should consist of three representatives of employers and three of workers, together with the Commissioner of Apprenticeship and a Government appointee conversant with vocational education and possibly with some responsibilities in the sphere of vocational guidance. A majority of the members representative of employers and workers should be persons who are or have at some time been actually engaged cither as employers or workers in the industry concerned. The Commissioner, as Chairman, would have a deliberative but not a casting vote at meetings of the Committees. "Where in any case an Apprenticeship Committee, either Dominion or local, is unable to come to a decision on any matter, such matter may be referred to the Court of Arbitration for decision, with the right of persons affected to be heard by the Court. To save unwieldy machinery and unnecessary expense, we believe that certain industries with a degree of relationship should be grouped wherever possible for the purposes of constituting Dominion Committees. Such grouping would not necessarily mean that all the apprentices in the grouped industries would be covered by the same Dominion apprenticeship order. A Dominion Committee's first duty would be to estimate, from its own intimate knowledge, and in the light of any known planning for its industry, the numbers of apprentices necessary to maintain the requisite inflow of skilled tradesmen. Its next duty would be to negotiate for Dominion apprenticeship orders. Before making their recommendations or submissions to the Court of Arbitration as to the provisions to be embodied in the orders, the Committees would need to give consideration to the following matters : — (1) The flow of skilled workers required for each industry, and the proportion of apprentices to journeymen which it would be necessary to specify to regulate that flow. In this connection the Commission recommends that provision be made for the delegation to Dominion Committees, but not to local Committees, of the power at present vested solely in the Court of Arbitration to require any employer to " employ and continue to employ such number of apprentices as the Court may consider necessary to ensure an adequate supply of journeymen in the interests of the industry " (section 5 (4) (a)). In view of the drastic nature of this power, which, incidentally, has not to our knowledge ever been used in the past, we propose a right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration by any employer, apprentice, parent, or guardian affected by a decision of a Dominion Committee. The Court may hear the appropriate industrial unions of employers or workers in connection with such appeals. We think that the possession of the power of compulsion is necessary if the Committees are to exercise properly their function of planning the intake of apprentices into industry. Local Apprenticeship Committees should be invited to make representations to Dominion Committees in the matter, but the Dominion Committees should not be allowed to delegate this power to any local Committee or, indeed, to any sub-committee of a Dominion Committee : (2) Whether or not there should be training of apprentices at technical classes. If that training were deemed necessary in any industry or branch thereof, then the question of compulsory attendance would have to be decided, and also the question of whether or not that attendance should be within ordinary working-hours. Conditions relating to exemption in country districts and in respect of other special circumstances would require to be laid down. The Dominion Committee in each industry would have the responsibility of approving minimum syllabuses of instruction wherever apprentices were required to attend classes. One function of the educationist on the Committee would be to assist in achieving the closest collaboration between industry and the technical schools in this and other similar matters : (3) Whether examinations (and details of the procedure for them) and .trade tests for apprentices should be prescribed in apprenticeship orders:

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