REGISTERED BUILDERS

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20738, 23 February 1939, Page 11

REGISTERED BUILDERS

SUGGESTION AT CONFERENCE •CLASSIFYING CARPENTERS The desirability of the compulsory registration of builders was discussed at the annual conference of the New Zealand Federated Builders and Contractors’ Association yesterday when a remit from Manawatu to the effect » that the necessity for such a move 1 should be placed prominently before - the Government during 193'J came up - for discussion. A similar remit came i forward from the Hutt Valley and was - taken in conjunction with the Manat. watu remit. j Introducing the matter, Mr A. - Fletcher (Wellington) stated that to - wait for independent Government action would be useless. The only - way to gain action iq the matter was i to promote a private member’s Bill, r and such a move should be a recom- * ; mendatlon to the incoming committee. i j The Hon. W. Nash had been very i j encouraging when he had been ap- , j preached in connection with the mati ' ter, said Mr W. E. Jones (Welling- ) j ton; , and had promised to bring the * ! matter to the attention of the Minister ; j of Labour, the Hon H. T. Armstrong, t j A strong committee from the associa- : i tion’s executive should be set up to i J deal with the matter. 1 j After further discussion the matter f { was referred to the incoming com- - mittee. . i Another remit from the Hutt Val- " j ley suggested that an effort should 1 j be made to have carpenters classified, - j and speaking in support of the recomt j mendation Mr Jones slated that when > \ an employer engaged a man he had no ; way of knowing the extent of the em- | ployee’s capabilities. Experience t 1 was the only way of finding out and 1 that often co.st money. However, - . if the men were graded A, B and G it ' j would save Hie builders a great deal *I of expense and trouble. Cards could 5 | be supplied to the men and the pre- > j vious employer could enter his opinion ( there Rates of Pay f I ; 1 The contention that such a move ? ; would bring about different rates of f pay was expressed by Mr G. ?. Luney j (Canterbury; who expressed the * ! opinion that the award rates of pav ; should be adhered to. j Mi* A. Ball Southland) staled that a similar experiment had been tried in ■ the south some years ago, hut the j trouble was that there were hardly j two employers who could agree as to S a man’s qualifications. What suited | one employer might not suit another, in Melbourne, said Mr Fletcher, the men were classified according to the work they did. One man would hang doors, another would put in windows, aiio!her was a roof hand, and so on. | That system of classification would ' be better than one of grading, but ' with the smaller populations in the New Zealand centres it might not be | practicable. The speaker thought [ that the remit should be dropped. : The opinion that the remit might ‘ have repercussions on those dealing with tin; registration of builders was ' expressed by Mr I). G. Street Hamilton . The point arose as to who ’ was going to grade the men. and the ' speaker thought the matter should be ' deferred until the builders were re--1 gistered. 1 The remit was held over until deI finite information regarding the move j for the registration of builders was ! received.