Evolution.

King Country Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 51, 11 October 1907, Page 3

Evolution.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—" W. 8.," in his article on " Evolution " as affecting the building trade, draws a lurid picture of the poor lamb - like owner being first taken down by the "jerry builder," and finally going up to heaven with his household goods as his funeral pyre through the criminal carelessness of the said " jerry builder." Let me present the other side of the question : A builder, be he a jerry builder or not, is not a philanthropist; he is not going to put £250 worth of work into a house for which he is getting £2OO. There is no continued supply without a demand, and that the demand for cheap buildings exists is painfully evident. Again, the supply of good capable tradesmen is strictly limited, and the work a masterbuilder puts into a job is largely a matter of the capability of his men. When the good old apprentice system was in vogue good tradesmen were the rule and not the exception. Nowadays when a man is a carpenter today, a bricklayer to-morrow, a painter the day after, again a plumber and probably a blacksmith after that, what is to be expected? Exactly what we have, men working at trades which they have never properly learned, and of which they have only a superficial knowledge. Truly a jack-of-all-trades is master of none. If we wait for Evolution to alter all this we shall find that there are absolutely no competent tradesmen left to teach the apprentices. It is the craze for cheapness that dominates our commercial life that is mainly responsible for the present state of building trade, the getting of something below its actual intrinsic value.. A prospective owner procures plans from some heaven-sent genius, trots them round from builder_ to_ builder for prices, casually mentioning that so and so's price is so much. When he has got as low a price as it is possible to screw out of the unfortunate builder, he closes, and the result is that somebody has to suffer. This

state of things has been gradually j getting worse in my twenty odd yeirs in the trade, so, apparently, Evolution is working the wrong way. There is no doubt that Evolution is a beautiful doctrine for those who believe in it, but in the meanwhile, without waiting for this prett3 r fad to get in its fine work, my advice to those about to build is to get an honest builder (these are in a great majority, " W.B.'s " experience to the contrary notwithstanding, but of course there are " black sheep" in every trade), and don't cut him down. An honest ■price means honest work, a cut price dishonesty somewhere, and let us, before it is too late, try to restore the apprentice system. "W. 8." may reply that I know nothing whatever of his beautiful theory of Evolution. Well, perhaps not, but I have had over twenty years experience in the . building trade on four continents, so I think that entitles me to speak with some authority. In conclusion, Sir, , let " W. 8." continue his articles on " Where the White Man treads," a subject in which he is quite at home, and leave the building trade, of which he has only a rudimentary knowledge, alone. It is fatally easy to find fault, but he is the public benefactor who shows, or tries to show, how they are "to be remedied. —I am, etc., A MASTER CRAFTSMAN.