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The Daily News. SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 1922. INTERESTED GRIEVANCES.

There can be mo surer indication of the shortage of work that is offering, as well as of the more intense competition that is affecting certain trades, than the raking up of grievances and calling on the authorities to take action. Practically this agitation amounts to a veiled outcry that times are bad and there is not enough work to go round, therefore the wires are pulled with a view to make work. Possibly many observers will have no difficulty in getting the measure of the statements recently made to the Minister for Health by the Master Painters’ Federation. While times were good they would have resented Government interference in the direction of supervising their work and insisting that it should be properly executed and was of a sanitary nature. The general effect of financial pressure for some time past has been to compel house owners to restrict expenditure on renewals and decorations, consequently the trade represented by the Federation has fallen off and those engaged therein are suffering. Apparently, this slackness has given the master painters time and opportunity to survey the position with the object of 4 ‘making work.” Can any common-sense citizen for a moment imagine that these suppliants to the Minister for a doser inspection of the interior of houses are actuated purely and solely by a new-born enthusiasm to safeguard the health of the public? In view of the fact that they have only just made public the menace of covering up old scrim, it would seem that the true object of their action is to be found more in the desire to obtain work than to benefit the community. The question at once arises: Why have they, during all the years that have passed since they engaged in the trade, heen parties to perpetuating the menace of health they now Obviously the plague scare has. played into their hands, and they are only following a prominent, trait in human nature by utilising a lever that might be expected to act to their advantage. What they say as to old scrim is no doubt founded on fact, but they are interested parties, therefore independent testimony is necessary before the public need be alarmed at old scrim being a menace to health. If the main purpose of an annual official inspection of houses is not to create more work for the painters and decorators then a worthy class of citizens have not been given credit for public spirit. The Minister wisely withheld any promise as to what action should be taken, and on reflection he may possibly see that the grievance has more than one side. The recent conference between the advisory hoard of the New Plymouth Technical College and some of the master plumbers of the town affords another illustration of this desire for more inspection that is a sign of the times. While the master painters are claiming that their journeymen should he licensed and registered in the same way as the plumbers, the latter are complaining chat (notwithstanding this licensing and registering) the sta.n- | rlard of plumbing work in New ! Plymouth is low. More remark- ■

able still is the assertion that “there was no incentive for the conscientious registered plumber to do good work, because the inspection set the standard very low.” Such an argument is about the limit. Whose fault is it that the standard of work is low? For the employers to shift the blame on the borough inspector is not playing the game. It is for the employers, for their own credit’s sake, to see to it that the work is of a high standard, quite apart from what the standard of inspection may be. The master plumbers, however, have to compete against, unregistered and uncertificated men, and it can readily be conceived that the work of the latter may he of a low order. These men are deliberate lawbreakers, and have a most unfair advantage over the qualified men, provided their work is passed. Apparently, in view of the fact that there are more uncertificated plumbers in New Plymouth than certificated, it would seem the first step is to remedy that evil by rigidly enforcing the by-law, and insisting that on the completion of every plumbing job the inspector is notified.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19220415.2.19

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 15 April 1922, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
721

The Daily News. SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 1922. INTERESTED GRIEVANCES. Taranaki Daily News, 15 April 1922, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 1922. INTERESTED GRIEVANCES. Taranaki Daily News, 15 April 1922, Page 4

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