IKADI': S(.lli>(»I.S AS AIDS To INDl'Sim. 579 



ai JohaniU'sburj(. it was tin- intention v1 the authorities that tlic 

 sohot)l training should, to a <freat extent. su])})lant the reguhir 

 workshops or commercial apprenticcshi]). and not merely supple- 

 ment or prepare for it. The C(^urse laid down was a three-and-a- 

 half years' one. including a ])roI)aii()nary jjcriod of six months. 

 Tlic intention was. therefore, to turn oiu what has generally been 

 known as " improvers." ihe system was doomed to failure 

 when it was found that cmpl()yer> did not want this type of 

 l)roduct. and that the trade unions objected strongly to half- 

 trained men, as non-indentured improvers, being dumi:)ed upon 

 the labour market, and it was 'found almost im])ossible to place 

 tlie lads in suitable employment. 



This attitude is justifiable. There arc several objections to 

 the system of indenturing lads to tlie Principal of a Trades 

 School for such an extended period. It i> claimed by employers 

 that a lad should come into contact witli ])ractical work, on a 

 coiumercial scale, when he reaches the age of Ml The trade 

 unions insist upon an indentureshij^ beginning witli commercial 

 apprenticeship, so that the con(lition> in eacli trade may be sus- 

 ceptible of regulation, and the objections from the school i)oint 

 o\ view are also sericnis. To keep a lad in tlie Trades .Scht>oI 

 more than two years wotdd require the carrying on of work 

 <.n a commercial scale, if the lads are to be ])ro])erly trained. 

 To i\o this, and scrap the i)roducts, would cause a prohibitive 

 expense to the Government, and to sell the ])roducts would in- 

 volve enterin.g into commercial comi)etit!on with jM'ivate hrms 

 by means of subsidised laljour. a position im])ossible owing to 

 its unfairness from both the employer and the employee's i^oints 

 of view, and likely to defeat the very objects for which the 

 schools had been established. Many, it must l)c rememl)ered, 

 objected very strongly to the existence of the Trades School at 

 all ; it was not i3opular w-ith the trades miions. and was looked 

 at askance by the employers, who did not. at the early stages, 

 in any way recognise the time s]XMit at the school as shortening 

 the i)eriod of apprenticeshii). 



Thus the position with regard to the schools, after three 

 years' trial, w-as most unsatisfactory, anrl the whole (|Uestion 

 was therefore thoroughly investigated and reviewed by the (lov- 

 crning Body of the Johannesburg Trades School. A committee 

 was appointed to determine how far trade-school training should 

 count towards apprenticeship. But this was a matter which 

 could only be decided aifter testing the ])roduct, and the em- 

 i:)loyers, so far, had not been in any way consulted. A series of 

 meetings was therefore arranged with the various em])loyers' 

 associations, and with the S.A. Institution of Engineers and the 

 Association of Certificated Engineers of the Transvaal. The 

 Institution of Engineers appointed a sub-committee to investi- 

 arate the (|uestion. A large amount of data was collected with 

 reference to the requirements and possibilities in the various 

 trades, and the main conclusion arrived at was that, as far as 

 the engineering trades were concerned, to rnerit the support of 



