POLITICAL POINTS

Evening Star, Issue 22457, 30 September 1936, Page 1

POLITICAL POINTS

REPani ON APPRENTICESHIP POSITION [Feosi Oue Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, September 29. Tho busiest man in the Ministry, Mr Nash (Minister of Finance) was absent from the House when the second reading discussion in two of his measures came to an end. The usual Ministerial reply was therefore not given, and Oppositionists, though surprised, did not comment on this unexpected situation. However, when the Land and Income Tax (Annual) Bill was taken in committee with the Minister 'in charge still out of the House, Mr Coates raised a point of order. 44 A most_ unusual procedure, to have a Bill in committee without the Minister in charge of it,” he commented.

Tho Prime Minister (looking up from notes he had been making): I am in charge. There is only room for one Minister at a time. Mr Coates: The Minister in charge should be in his place beside_ the chairman. Is the Prime Minister in charge? 44 Yes, really in earnest,” answered Mr Savage, and the point of order was ruled out by Mr Howard, Chairman of Committees, who said there was no Standing Order whatever ou the point raised. A few minutes later the Minister of Finance reassured Opposition critics of the procedure by taking his usual place alongside the chairman, and he received from the Prime Minister some notes taken of questions raised during his absence. * * * * Recent legislation relating to shops and offices gives increasing importance to the figures of the Labour Department’s annual report _ regarding the number of employees in these occupations. The report states that the department has no accurate information, but it estimates that there are 27,672 shops in the Dominion, of which approximately one-half are conducted without assistants. In shops with assistants there are 21,385 males and 20,113 females employed. The department’s inspectors made 14,000 visits_to inspect wages books, etc., aud instituted 314 prosecutions, securing 221 convictions, with fines totalling £294. The number of boys under 16 years who commenced factory work last year is the highest since 1929, being 1,026, while girls totalled 1,964, making a grand total of 2,990, the highest figure in the department’s history. The apprenticeship position, which in the previous report was a subject of concern, showed an improvement, 1,292 i contracts being registered, while the number of apprentices is 3,552, which compares badly with the 1928 total of 10,227. The report suggests that with the increase in confidence, employers are again prepared to engage apprentices, but the sharp decline in numbers during the denression and the consequent likelihood of a shortage of skilled tradesmen in the near future gives rise to serious consideration of the desirahilitv of encouraging employers to give suitable training to persons who, by force of circumstances, were prevented from serving a period of apprenticeship. r « » * *

A petition from the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants aud F. E. Hunt, which is the sequel to retrenchment in tho railway service, was reported on by the Public Petitions Committee. The petitioners asked that legislation be passed providing full superannuation for railwaymen who were compulsorily retired at an earlier age than normal, their pension being actuarily computed iat a lower basis. The committee recommended the request to the Government’s favourable consideration.