CENTRE TRAINS MANY BAY MEN AS CARPENTERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 72, 21 July 1950, Page 7

CENTRE TRAINS MANY BAY MEN AS CARPENTERS

Many ex-servicemen from Whakatane and other parts of the Bay of Plenty have been trained as carpenters in the Rotorua centre of the Rehabilitation Training Scheme. Last week another batch passecLout to take their place among the 305 carpenters who have been trained since March 1943.

This represents a substantial contribution to the pool of carpenters, and it is safe to say that, were it not for the scheme and the attractive conditions operating for the exservicemen during training, many good men would have been lost to the trade.

Maori Workmen Of course, not all the men trained have remained in Rotorua or the Bay of Plenty. The original design was to provide training for Maori ex-servicemen and applications from outlying areas were encouraged in order to provide tradesmen for their own districts.

Some are providing the carpentry force for the Department of Maori Affairs in a widespread housing programme. Others have made good as independent' contractors, or in terms as labour contractors.

During the seven years the training centre has functioned, each man besides taking the preliminary 16 weeks’ intensive theoretical course, has proceeded to practical training, which gave him the opportunity to participate in every phase of a carpenter’s work in modern housebuilding, so that at the end of his training, he has acquired a trade for his lifetime.

Naturally, production of complete units cannot be speedy when basic training is the first consideration, but it is worth recording that trainees have to date completed 158 houses.

At present, 44 ex-servicemen are under training and 19 houses are at various stages of construction, While a contract for an additional seven houses will soon commence. The next intake of trainees will be in August, and it is indicated that there is room for one or two more in this course.

Cannot Last As to the future life of the training centre, it is reasonable to expect saturation point soon, but that will depend upon how long exservicemen who have not yet taken up a trade will be satisfied with their future prospects in high wages for unskilled work.

Already trade training centres in other districts are in the process of closing down, and this must soon follow in, Rotorua.