Boys Tramping the Streets

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 33, 2 May 1927, Page 8

Boys Tramping the Streets

Auckland’s Apprenticeship Problems When Mr. Justice Frazer, at the Arbitration C-oxirt. said there were too many apprentices for certain trades, and that the overflow should be diverted to other occupations, he opened up a big question. Can a judge of the Arbitration Court dictate to a toy the vocation he should pursue! There are boys tramping the streets of Auckland today seeking openings, but many of them have preference.Their ambitions are set on success in their chosen worn, and thev are reluctant to Transfer their interest.

Wiili scores of boys who left school | at the end of last year still searching for chances, the problem of apprentiee- | ships in Auckland assumes formidable dimensions. It is a business beset by a range of difficulties. To investigate it is to find that the different associated interests hold widely differing views. In all the contentions and theories propounded it is not easy to find a basis founded on acknowledged facts. First there are the apprenticeship committees, formed of employers and employees’ representatives. In practice it has been found that political convictions to a large extent colour the arguments introduced into the discussions of the commissions. Did Committees Fail? Many now believe that the formation of the committees was an experiment which has already proved futile. The committees were given far-reach-ing powers which, in practice, they could not wield. One employer, a committeeman, is authorised to supervise the conditions in another’s shop. Not unnaturally, he refuses to do so in nine cases out of ten In the same way a committee can compel an employer to engage an apprentice, but instances of such compulsion are rare. The right of committees to send apprentices to a technical college has been accepted only occasionally. Great numbers of apprentices go of their own free will. The compulsory students, who would require to be driven all the way, would be a brake on the progress of their more willing class- 1 mates.

Those concerned with the training of boys in technical colleges believe that if Mr. Justice Frazers verdict was carried into practice many talented boys might be excluded from the occupations in which they would do best. The electrical trade in Auckland at present happens to be crowded with apprentices. Hence, under the Arbitration Court’s proposition, a'potentlal Edison or Marconi might be sent to the uncongenial atmosphere of a bakehouse. Bread or Bricks A proportion of boys may have only vague ideas about their futures. They may be “easy” whether it is bread or bricks that they decide to juggle with. In swaying such lads one way or the other a system of drafting would do no harm. To others it might do permanent injustice. In Auckland the position is now that the quota system introduced under the Apprentices’ Act of 1924 is keeping numbers of boys out of their chosen vocations. Under the quota system a particular trade in a particular district is authorised to absorb a percentage of apprentices. Subsequently the Arbitration Court frequently hears applications to have the ratio altered. On the one hand the unionists fear an influx of cheap boy labour, and on the other it is' asserted that they are interested only in keeping down the number of tradesmen, so that there shall be good money for all.

Claim and counter-claim typify the dimeulties encountered in the administration of the ActSome of the union secretaries charge the employers with selfishness in their dealings with apprentices One man, secretary of a committee, had on his hands several apprentices thrown out of work through the financial failure of their employers. Endeavouring to place them, he circularis'd over a score of firms. Not half

of them replied, and those who could take apprentices wanted first or second-year boys only. The implication, right or wrong, was that the employers did not want to pay too much for the boys they were willing to accept. Dropping the Apprentices Similarly, another secretary interviewed to-day said the practice of discarding apprentices as soon as they had completed their service, and could command full award wages, existed among certain Auckland employers. This caused the men thus cast out of employment to canvass for odd jobs, in competition with their former employers. Yet those employers who created the situation were the first to complain of the inroads into their business. Inquiries revealed that in nearly all the trades the supply of apprentices is much greater than the demand. The bakery business is one trade not rushed by boys. But on the other hand carpentry, engineering and the electrical trades are crowded out Remedies suggested are the appointment of experienced trade commissioners instead of the apprenticeship committees, and elimination of the quota system. Employers of known integrity could then take as many boys as they were capable of training. —G. McL