D.—l

107

REGISTRATION of electrical wiremen. Tlxe Electrical Wiremen's Registration Act is now entering 011 its fourth year of operation, and has proved to be a very useful measure in protecting the public from dangerous work. It has also proved to be of assistance to the electrical-supply authorities in seeing that satisfactory work is being done, and has assisted them in their endeavours to prevent work being done by unskilled persons. The ease with which electrical wiring and apparatus can be extended, altered, or repaired has always proved a temptation to unskilled persons, consequently much unsatisfactory and sometimes positively dangerous work has been carried out in the past and still continues to a limited extent. That consumers will continue to tamper with their installations there is little doubt, and there appears to be no means of protecting such people from risk of the danger to life and property caused by work which is carried out contrary to the Electrical Wiring Regulations. The Act is designed to protect the person who is prepared to have the work done by skilled workmen, and the annual cost of administering it is little more than the cost of property destroyed in an average fire. The gain to the community so far as the elimination of destruction of property is concerned is obvious, while the immunity from danger to life is beyond estimation. The Act also has the effect of protecting the skilled wireman from unfair competition by men with little or no experience, and thus proves an incentive to the man who is prepared to devote his time to study in order to qualify. The Act is also designed to raise the standard of electrical-wiring work by providing that fully qualified men who have passed an examination of a standard not lower than that set by the City and Guilds of London Institute shall carry out the work. Provision had, however, to be made to register the wiremen who were working when the Act came into force, and, while probably the majority of these had passed an examination, the fact remains that work in the past was in a number of cases not done as well as could be desired nor as required by the regulations then in force. The power under the Act to. endorse a wireman's registration certificate or remove his name from the register for bad workmanshij) is having its eflect, and there is no doubt that the standard of work is improving. An amendment to the Act has given the Board power to remove an endorsement, and this will allow more freedom in making endorsements, as it was considered in a number of cases that an endorsement for life was too drastic a punishment, whereas one for a few years would meet the case. The Act and regulations were amended during the year to provide for several matters not included in the principal Act, and to make for better working in other directions. The members of the Registration Board are appointed for a term of three years, and as the term for the first Board expired on the 31st March, 1929, a new Board has, in accordance with section 3 of the principal Act, been appointed. The Board is now composed of three members of the previous Board and two new members. Provision was made in the regulations issued under the Act for the registers to be purged every three years, and notices were forwarded on the 31st March, 1929, to every registered electrical wireman informing him that if he wished to have his name retained on the register, application to that effect had to be made not later than the 30th June. To the end of June, 1929, there have been registered 317 Inspectors of Electrical Wiring, 2,779 electrical wiremen with full registration, and 60 electrical wiremen with limited registration, an increase of 53 Inspectors, 181 electrical wiremen with full registration, and 39 electrical wiremen with limited registration since July, 1928. In addition to the above registrations, 62 provisional licenses were issued during the year ended 30th June, 1929. Of the 2,779 electrical wiremen with full registration, 528 have been registered after passing the Board's examination. Nineteen prosecutions for working contrary to the Act have been taken during the year ended 30th June, 1929, and others are pending. Of the above prosecutions, one was taken against a wireman who had neglected to become registered ; nine cases were against unregistered persons ; four cases were against persons employing unregistered men; one against a contractor for employing an apprentice without supervision ; one against an apprentice for working without supervision ; one against a wireman for failing to produce his registration certificate for inspection ; one against a contractor for failure to notify intention to commence wiring-work ; and one against a wireman for connecting wiring with the source of supply before such wiring had been inspcctcd, tested, and approved. Fines and costs totalling £69 were imposed in the above cases. Up to the 30th June, 1929, 181 reports of breaches of the Act were received from the time the Act came into force. Figures for the yearly periods since the Act came into force are as follows: Year ended 31st March, 1927, fifty-two ; year ended 31st March, 1928, sixty-three ; year ended 31st March, 1929, fifty-four. A number of cases were not taken, as the evidence was insufficient to secure a conviction. Up to the 30th June, 1929, there have been 100 reports of bad workmanship from the time the Act came into force. The figures for the yearly periods are as follows: Year ended 31st March, 1927, seventeen ; year ended 31st March, 1928, forty-six ; year ended 31st March, 1929, twenty-seven. Of the cases reported during the year ended 30th June, 1929, the following action has been taken : One name was removed from the register, one provisional license was withdrawn, the certificates of sixteen wiremen were endorsed for bad workmanship, four wiremen were censured, five wiremen were cautioned, in one case the offence occurred before the Act came into force and no action could be taken, and in two cases the work was carried out by wiremen other than those first reported. Four Inspectors were reported to the Board for unsatisfactory inspections; of these, two were censured, one was referred to the supply authority concerned, and action in the other case is under review. Examinations were held during the year in September, 1928, and March, 1929. The results of the examinations are very unsatisfactory, and the indications are that the apprentices are not availing themselves fully of the facilities for technical instruction. Details of the examinations held will be found in the following tables.