Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1894 MASTERS AND APPRENTICES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4797, 11 August 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1894 MASTERS AND APPRENTICES.

Tub Hon. Mr Reeves, the Minister in Labour, Ims luid to take back his Masters and Apprentices Bill No. 1, and lias now given birth to.a Mastel' and Apprentices Bill No. 2. Of course, Mr Reeves intends his Bill as a massacre for Masters, but there is some danger-of it turning out aii instrument for the massacre of his Innocents-apprentices. In the first place, only youths who have passed the fourth standard can be apprenticed, though what is to. become of the others, we do not know; perhaps they are dealt with under tho Noxious Weeds Bill. Then the wages are fixed on ascalo somowlmt higher than in Bill No, 1, so high in fact that-, when the Bill becomes law, there will be a thinning of lads out of factories and workshops to swell tho ranks of the unemployed. Then an average of about 12 per cent, of an apprentices' wages is to be paid direct into the Government Sayings Bank. It is part and parcel of the Ministerial policy to collar all the money in the Colony, and under the Masters and Apprentices Act, they will be able to'make a nice Mo haul Of course, thero is all the machinery which is introduced by the State into all its measures; an army of Inspectors in tho foreground, Magistrates in the backgrousd, and fines and penalties on all sides. Where will all the money come from to work the' now.Act? It will come out of the wage fund, and there will be less money for workers'; and more, for .inspectors; lawyers, .court officials; and the State Bank; The wage fund, when these liavo had their turn at it, will' "sink" a foot, and tlio average rate of wages will havo to come down with a run.' Masters won't ruu their businesses at a loss, ami

they cftnnot do so for veiy long, even if they felt an amiablo.woakness iu. that direction. Of course, the Minister ra Labour ib supposed to bo shooting at Masters, ;but he is rpally hitting the young lads who tire to bo made apprentices by thou* will, or against their will'as the case may bo, or else turned adrift. It is a great pity that the Minister in Labour, himself, has never served a term of apprenticeship in some business where he might have gained some rudimentary knowledge of the conditions which favour the success of workers. •