Variety of Trades

Te Ao Hou, June 1966, Page 7

Variety of Trades Maori boys wishing to take up apprenticeship training under this scheme now have a range of seven different trades to choose from. At first, only carpentry was available, the first course being at Auckland in 1959. A second carpentry centre was opened at Gracefield, Lower Hutt, in 1961, followed by a third centre at Weedons, Christchurch, in 1962. These are all two-year courses. An interesting feature is that the carpentry trainees spend twelve months on actual house building under normal field conditions, supervised by experienced building instructors. The boys are split into gangs of six, each gang building three different types of house, which on completion, are sold to Maori families. Since the carpentry scheme started in 1959 the trainees have built nearly 150 houses, as well as completing a number of other building jobs. One-year courses in plumbing and electrical wiring were started at the technical institutes in 1962, and a motor mechanics course was introduced in Auckland in 1963. The follow-

ing year, courses in painting and panel beating were started at Christchurch, and in 1965, plastering was introduced at Lower Hutt. The annual intake of boys at each of the three carpentry centres is 24. The six one-year courses each cater for classes of 12 boys.