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REGISTRATION OF ELECTRICAL WIREMEN. The term of office of the Board members expired on the 31st March, 1935, and, the interests affected being agreeable, the members of the late Board were reappointed for a further three years. For the year ended the 30th June eight meetings of the Board were held. The Act was amended in 1934 in several important details. The penalty for carrying outjelectrical wiring contrary to the provisions of the Act or for employing or permitting any person so to do was increased to £50 for each offence. It has been made an offence to wilfully hinder or obstruct any authorized person in the exercise of the powers conferred on him by the Act. It has been made an offence to allow a certificate of registration or a provisional license to be used by any person other than the person to whom such certificate or license was issued. The Board has been given power to suspend a wireman for defective work in addition to the existing power to endorse bis registration certificates or to remove his name from the register or withdraw his provisional license. Provision has been made for Inspectors of Electrical Wiring to enter premises for the purposes of inspection and testing. The penalty for refusing, without reasonable cause, to permit an Inspector to enter any premises is disconnection of the installation from the supply. Provision has been made for University electrical engineering students to assist wiremen, as it is necessary for such students to gain practical experience during the course of instruction. The definition of improver has been enlarged to include a person who, having completed an apprenticeship and sat for the examination, is not yet registered. The question of whether notice of intention to carry out wiring should be in writing or not has been clarified by providing that where verbal notice has been given it shall be confirmed in writing within forty-eight hours. To avoid duplication of notice in the case of mines having their own plants, provision has been made for the notice to the Inspector of Mines to be sufficient. It has been made definite that electrical wiring involved in the repair or assembly of electrical apparatus must be inspected by a registered wireman or the holder of a provisional license before the apparatus (or part) is removed from the premises where the work was done. Unless the person undertaking the work of repair or assembly is a registered wireman or the holder of a provisional license, or has in his service (as a full-time employee) such a person, the person inspecting the work must enter particulars of the work in a register and sign the entry. The register is to be kept on the premises of the person undertaking the work and be open for inspection. The regulations were recently amended to provide for the payment of fees for the inspection of private plants, appeals and the re-registration of a wireman after'his name has been removed from the register as a result of the quinquennial purging, and his failure to reply to a letter from the Board asking whether he wishes to have his name retained on the register. The fee for an appeal against the decision of the Board is with the object of discouraging frivolous appeals, and has been made flexible so that it may fit each individual case as far as possible. The five-yearly purging of the registers will take place in January, 1936 ; and in October, 1935, a letter will be posted to each registered electrical wireman, including those with limited registration, requesting him to state, within three months, whether he wishes to have his name retained on the register. The names of all wiremen who do not reply by the 31st January, 1936, will then be removed from the registers, but provision is made for re-registration on payment" of a fee of ten shillings. A further endeavour has been made during the year to restrict the practice of incompetent persons assembling or repairing electrical apparatus. A circular letter setting out the requirements of the Act was forwarded to the electrical-supply authorities for distribution to persons who undertake the assembly and repair of electrical apparatus. It does not appear to be generally known that the attachment of a flexible cord, plugs, connectors, and the like to electrical apparatus, and the replacement of elements in irons, radiators, and other electrical apparatus, must be carried out by registered wiremen or the holders of provisional licenses when such work is carried out on the premises where such apparatus is to be used. Provision is made for the assembly and repair of electrical apparatus on premises other than the premises where such apparatus is to be used to be carried out in the usual manner, but where the work is not done by a registered wireman or the holder of a provisional license it must be inspected and tested by such a person before it leaves the premises where the work was done. The results of the examinations are still somewhat disappointing. In the written part only 28 per cent, passed in September, 1934, and only 19 per cent, in March, 1935. In the practical part only 42 per cent, passed in September, 1934, and 59 per cent, in March, 1935. The examiners in the written part drew special attention to the difficulty experienced in deciphering the writing and sketches and to the lack of knowledge of the wiring regulations. The examiners in the practical part stated that more attention should be paid to cleaning the ends of conduit to avoid damage to the protective covering of the wires, to the bending of conduit, to the removal of the braid and tape from the wires at connections to accessories, to the cleaning of the conduit where in contact with earthing-clips, to the tightening of earthing-clips, and to a stricter adherence to the measurements given. The details supplied to the Board in connection with reports of defective work and breaches of the Act are not as complete as they should be in some cases, and it would reduce the work of the Board if more attention was given to this matter and better use made of the instructions printed on the back of the report forms. Every registered wireman is supplied with a certificate which has to be signed by him and produced for inspection by the person for whom the work is being performed, or the occupier of the premises on which the work is being performed, and such persons, for their own protection, should see that the person doing the work has such a certificate. The statistics for the year ended 30th June are as follows :— Registrations: Inspectors, 15. Wiremen —Full registration, 111 ; limited registration, 40; provisional licenses, 10. Examinations : Candidates—Written part, 231 ; practical part, 176. Passed —Written part, 56 ; practical part, 86. Highest marks —Written part, 77 ; practical part, 89. Defective-work reports : 46. Breach of Act reports : 49. Prosecutions taken : 15. Fines and costs : £25 Bs. The amount collected from the electrical-supply authorities was equivalent to o'6d. per consumer. F. T. M. Kissel, B.SC., M.1.E.E., A.M.1.C.E., Chief Electrical Engineer.

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