H. —IIA.

14

Proposal 26 : That, on the question of reaching a decision where committee is equally divided, decision be left to the Court, and each side may submit a case in writing through the Registrar. This was carried after a brief discussion. Proposal 27 : That a departmental officer be appointed to supervise the welfare of apprentices. After some discussion tbe motion was lost. Proposal 28: That the Conference has no recommendation to submit with respect to proportion ; and that individual trades be requested to forward their own recommendations to the Minister. Carried unanimously after a brief discussion. On motion of Mr. M. Brown, seconded by Mr. A. Fletcher, Mr. A. C. Mitchell was unanimously elected to the chair as successor to Mr. T. Bloodworth, who intimated that he had to return to Auckland on Wednesday night. It was decided that the whole report be forwarded to the Minister, leaving any explanation to the Secretary of Labour. A vote of thanks to Mr. T. Bloodworth, retiring Chairman, was carried with acclamation. (Mr. A. C. Mitchell, Wellington, presiding.) Proposal 29 : That in every case where an apprentice is employed to whom an apprenticeship order applies, a printed or typewritten copy of the order shall be kept affixed in some conspicuous place where it may be easily read by the apprentice ; that the Inspector may at any time require the copy of the order to be moved to some other place, or that an additional copy shall be affixed in a place indicated by him. After a short discussion, the motion " that the order be treated in this respect in the same manners as an Arbitration Court award " was carried. Proposal 30 : That proceedings may be taken for failure to register a contract of apprenticeship at any time during the employment of the apprentice or within six months thereafter. Carried after a brief discussion. Proposal 31 : That the following clause be inserted in the Apprentices Act : " The Registrar or Apprenticeship Committee, may, in any matter arising in or out of the performance of their duties, state a case for the advice and opinion of the Court." Carried after a short discussion. Proposal 32 : That section 5 (4) (k) of the Apprentices Act, 1923, be amended to enable the committee to delegate to one or more members the powers conferred by this subsection. Carried after a short discussion. Proposal 33 : That section 10 of the Apprentices Act, 1923 (which provides that two or more employers in an industry may enter into a contract of apprenticeship with the same apprentice) be deleted. Mr. W. Wilmot stated that the division of responsibility between different employers was not conducive to the boy learning his trade thoroughly. Mr. W. Maddison considered that if an individual employer collld not, as required by the Act, give a guarantee that he was able to carry out the contract that he had entered into, then it was not in the interests of the boys or in the interests of the trade generally that he should be given the right to take an apprentice. Mr. F. D.- Cornwell thought it would be unwise to agree to delete this clause, mainly on behalf of the boys in the country districts, where there are many small employers. Mr. H. Bradley said that it seemed most ridiculous to expect an apprentice to serve two masters. If he were a joint apprentice between two employers, it seemed to him there would be no definite responsibility on the part of any employer; and if an employer were not in a position to employ an apprentice full time, he should progress before he put an apprentice on, or should not be allowed to employ an apprentice at all. After a little further discussion the motion was carried. Proposal 34 : That when an employer or firm for any reason terminates business, and any apprentices are discharged through such reason, and the discharged apprentices are unable to obtain a transfer to another employer, then in such cases no further apprentices shall be employed in the industry in the locality concerned until such discharged apprentices have been reinstated with other employers. Mr. H. Campbell said that there were some employers who would not take a boy who had had part of a training with another employer. They liked to get boys, to mould them to their own minds. It would be of great advantage if a section were put in the Act to prohibit the taking-on of any new boys until these other boys were absorbed.