H—ll A.

16

were prepared to register the contract, and lie did not think it desirable that an employer should have to go hat injiand to a committee to ask them to consider whether he might take on an apprentice or not. Mr. H. Bradley did not think any stumbling-block should be put in the way either of a boy getting a job with reasonable despatch or of the employer making an arrangement if he desired to put an apprentice on who was a suitable boy. Mr. J. W. Roberts pointed out that a meeting could be called at any time, therefore there was no need to wait for a month. They wanted to deal with the employers who were lax, because they were a menace to the trade. If this were carried it was going to do no harm to either side. Mr. A. J. Ball said that this was a fairly wide question, and to require notification before taking on an apprentice would in many cases be a hardship. Would it not do to make it during the boy s probationary period ? It would then give the employer and the committee time to consider the position. Mr. H. Campbell did not think there was any one committee that would go back on it. The) all found it one of the finest amendments to the apprenticeship orders that they had ever had. There was really no hardship attaching to it at all. Where an application was received two or three days after the Apprenticeship Committee meeting, the committee generally made provision for the chairman and secretary to fix it up. If he were a bona fide employer there would be no difficulty whatever. It was really aimed at those people coming into the trade at a moment's notice. The Secretary of Labour explained that under section 8 an employer could take an apprentice on and then he must register the apprentice, making application to the Registrar within fourteen days. The Registrar could, of course, refuse to register, in which case the boy would have to go off. Mr. S. E. Wright moved as an amendment the deletion of the last words, " and shall not employ such apprentice without first obtaining such permission " ; the motion to read, " That all employers before employing an apprentice shall make application to the Apprenticeship Committee, or to the District Registrar of Apprentices where no committees are set up, for permission to employ an apprentice." This was carried without further discussion. Proposal 37 : That should any member of an Apprenticeship Committee fail to attend three consecutive meetings without reasonable excuse or leave of absence his seat shall be declared vacant by the chairman, and the vacancy shall be filled by the organization concerned within thirty-one days. If the organization fails to appoint a representative within the period mentioned above, the District Registrar shall appoint some one to fill the vacancy. The motion was carried without discussion. Proposal 38 : That in the case of apprentices in the fourth and fifth years of their apprenticeship who come under the various apprenticeship orders, they be allowed to sit for the intermediate or final examination, according to their tenure of apprenticeship under the said orders, and if they obtain a pass they be exempt from further attendance at technical classes. Carried without discussion. Proposal 39 : That apprenticeship orders shall not be amended in any industrial district by the recommendation of any committee unless the committee in the centre where the majority of workers and employers are affected is first consulted. Carried after a brief discussion. Proposal 40 : That when an application for permission to employ apprentices is under consideration the District Registrar shall place before the committee a statement showing the number of men employed lay the employer concerned, for two-thirds full time during the past six months. Carried after a brief discussion. Proposal 41 : That the form of apprenticeship contracts be so amended that companies will not be required to sign under seal. Mr. G. Mills-Palmer explained that this was merely an attempt to simplify the somewhat complicated arrangement which had been made for signing the contract to engage apprentices. Under the present Act the contract was in the form of a deed. The form of deed was an anachronism, and cumbersome —it was unsuitable for present conditions, and the complication attending the execution of deeds by the companies was out of all proportion to the importance of the occasion. It was necessary to call a meeting of directors, make an entry in the minutes of the directors' meeting, authorize the issue of the deed, which had to be stamped with the company's seal and signed by probably two directors and the secretary, whereas the whole thing could be done in a much more simple form. Mr. F. D. Cornwell did not think there would be much objection so long as they had the assurance that it was not going to affect the validity of the apprenticeship. After a little further discussion the motion was carried. Proposal 42 : That cases of misdemeanour by an apprentice should be dealt with by the District Registrar on the recommendation of the Apprenticeship Committee, with authority to endorse apprenticeship certificate. Carried.