THE APPRENTICESHIP QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 October 1919, Page 6

THE APPRENTICESHIP QUESTION.

EFFECT OF SPECIALISATION. AN INQUIRY SUGGESTED.

(By Wire. —Own Correspondent.)

Wellington, Oct. 7. An interesting discussion of the vexed question of the dearth of boys for skilled trades is contained in the report of the Labor Department. During the year a draft Bill has been prepared for consideration (to take the place of the Act of 1865). The subject of apprentices has, during recent years, become a contention* one. On the one hand, it is urged that greater responsibility should be placed on employers by requiring them to give time off during working hours for attendance at technical schools; that a system of examination of the work and progress of the apprentice should be instituted, and so on, the object being to ensure that every apprentice is properly taught and trained from both the practical and theoretical point of view. On the other hand it is pointed out that apprenticeships, in the 9ense hitherto known, are becoming obsolete on account'of the increasing use of machinery and the specialisation of work by employing groups of workers, on one or two operations, the result being, so it is claimed, that what has until recently been a skilled trade, requiring four or five years' apprenticeship has now become almost/unskilled.

The boot manufacturing industry is" an example in which the work formerly learned by each apprentice in the making department (in five years) *is in some' New Zealand factories broken up into at least nine operations, each being carried out by a worker operating a'machine, the use of which he can learn in about three months in the case of seven machines and about six months in the other two. In fact, in the United States of America, where the factories are, of course, much larger, the manufacture of boots is subdivided into as many as 64 operations, each with its own worker employed exclusively on that operation., It is therefore suggested that the training of fac tory workers is, to a large extent, resolving itself into th» teaching of the use of mechanical appliances. The high specialisation of industry, such as is referred to above respecting the boqt trade in New Zealand and the United States, raises a question that is worthy of consideration—whether such specialisation is likely to be conducive to the welfare of the community. It is, of course, true that competition in industry with other countries, and the natural desire of everyone to obtain the greatest possible output at th£ least possible cost of labor, demand the utmost use of machinery and specialisation, but if this feature of trade is allowed to go on without restriction it must tend to the detriment of the health and contentment of our workers, and to the deterioration of the race.

The whole subject of the training of apprentices, and the general welfare of the workers in this cononection, mig\t well form the subject of an inquiry by a commission of business and educational men. The state of affairs above mentioned does not apply to all trades, in several of which apprenticeships for a sufficient period of years are still needed, Yet, there has been a serious shortage of apprentices for a considerable time, even before the war, which will apparently result in a shortage of competent workers in the near future. In regard to the cause of this shortage, I desire to call attention to the fact' that the adult workers in many skilled trades seldom earn more than, if as much as, the workers in callings that require no apprenticeships. A similar position exists in Australia, where the apprentice question has engaged the attention of several commissions set up to inquire into the matter. It is pointed out on tables that a man ih>>a skilled trade, requiring apprenticeship, receives from Is 3d to Is 9Ad per hour, while in unskilled and semi-skilled trades from Is 2}d to 2s 5d per hour, the rates for waterside workers being from Is lOd to 2s sd.