SANITARY PLUMBING

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 50, 23 November 1926, Page 12

SANITARY PLUMBING

BY-LAW NOT ENFORCED

REGISTERED MEN COMPLAIN

Complaints that unregistered men were being employed on sanitary plumbing and that no attempt was being made to enforce the by-laws governing that restriction were made by a deputation from the New Zealand Plumbers’ Federation which waited on the Minister of Health (Hon. J. A. Young) last night. In the opinion of the president of the federation (Mr. A. Harridge), the administration of the Plumbers’ Registration Act had been a bone of contention for a long time. The Plumbers' Board was regarded as being more or less a farce—it was simply an examining body and had no power over the work carried out—and the federation urged that the Health Department should exercise moral suasion, if it did not possess the legal powers, on the local authorities with a view to having administered in the spirit in which it was written the by-law preventing other than registered men from carrying out sanitary plumbing. When an individual moved in the direction of enforcing the rule victimisation followed.

The Minister: Have you any specific illustrations of that?

Mr. Harridge: “I’m an illustration rayself. I lost my job in one shop through the very' thing I’m talking about.” He suggested that the Health Department might appoint an inspector to attend to prosecutions for breaches

Tlie secretary of the federation (Mr. H. Thomson) quoted cases where sanitary plumbing had been carried out by unregistered men. The federation asked for the introduction of regulations compelling the enforcement of the Act in its entirety, and undertook to produce evidence if it were considered necessary to hold an inquiry into the whole business All the plumbing on one big building in Wellington, he said, had been done by two unregistered men. In reply, the Hon. J. A. Young said it would be interesting to hear what the Master Plumbers’ Association had to say in reply to tire allegation about the employment of unregistered men. The Plumbers’ Board had to see that a stanuard examination and standard qualifications were set for the Dominion. He understood it was not called upon to administer the -\ct. He understood that it was competent for the officers of his Department to take prosecutions, but wiiere particular by-laws were made it was customary for the work to be done only by the officers appointed. If the federation would supply definite instances, the Minister promised to ask his Department to write a respectful letter to the local bodies in the centres where the by-laws were not being carried out — and a menace to the health of the community was being created—pointing out that a better administration of the bylaws in the interests of public health would be appreciated. Specific instances, however, would have to be furnished, since no progress could be made without evidence.

Mr. P. Fraser, M.P., who introduced the deputation, asked whether the Department could not act in the matter in the s: me manner as did the Labour Department with regard to awards.

The Minister said he was prepared to co-operate provided nothing of a vindicative nature obtruded itself. The Department would be instructed -to use tact. The public should realise that when laws were made for the benefit of the community they must be obeyed.