PLUMBERS' PROBLEMS

Chronicle (Levin), 21 June 1948, Page 4

PLUMBERS' PROBLEMS

Press Association )

Material Shortages Bring Serious Crisis

" ' (Per

WELLINGTON, June 21. The shortages oi essentiaj rpaterials in New Zealand are viewed hy the council of the New Zealanq Society of Master Plumhers (Tncor* porated)' as pointihg t.Q {the imr mediate prp^iuiity of the gathering storip. now yisihly threatening tg disrupt the ecpnomic fife of the community for years to come." The situation and its particular implication to plumbing, as well as to the community as a whole, engaged the attention of the soeiety's council at a meeting in Wellington. "A very sober view was taken Of the eyer increasing diffi.oulties into which members of the plumbing trade throaghout the country are fipdlng themselyes from day ' to day," says a stateauept issued by the cpun'cfi. The statemept added thgt plumbers had been authoritatively informed that buiiding control as it rel'ated to their industty was nominal only as there were po stocks of essential couiuiodities in the country to control. "The "tirue has how cpme when these perspps in authority should be yequired by the public to publish truthfufiy the stark facts of •:he dilemma which they readily admit exists. Through the Jack of wise ipiport selection' the resultant absence qf essential = materials — the availabfiity of which in the sterling areg has from time to tifnc been proved — yirtually threatens a uni-ver-s.al PUblic utility serving every man, woman and child. Many es-^ tablished plumbers are faced with extinction. Some have already been forced out of business by the unequal struggle and many haye found Other e-mplqyment. Surely it is realised that eyery techniqian whose seryices are lost to the industry. and .sqqiety mqst onjy add to the ultiihate hiudrance apd oelay of all untjl new and cqmpe^ tent tradesmen are trained," said the statement. It added that further conoessions and privileges to youth, such. as those granted by tbe Arbitration Court in the Dominion Plumbers' and Gasfillers' ' ApBrenticeshiP Order,. were at the expense of the consuirung pnblic and stijl further restricted essential prQdUOtion. "A critical state of disrepair is to be generally observed in one of ournational assets — homes and building have been brought to ihe Ptesent state of crisis iby the Goyep^ ment's policy of ejitravagant Uving and wholesale expenditure of the ndJfcion's external capital inoome," the statement declared. t^AAAAiAAA%A/WWS/\AA/WWVWWWWSA^AA