66 J. NANGLE. 



six or part of six journeymen employed by any employer in 

 any of the trade callings. This recommendation was of 

 the nature of an agreement with the Department on this 

 question, because the conference was an official gathering 

 of representatives of the Chambers of Manufacture and 

 the Trades and Labour Councils of the State of the 

 Commonwealth, capable of speaking on behalf of the bodies 

 which they represented. 



The recommendations were accepted by the Department 

 of Repatriation and made the subject-matter of regulations. 

 These regulations have practically remained unaltered up 

 to the present. The only change of any importance has 

 been one made at the request of an official gathering of 

 trades' representatives held during August in 1919. The 

 alteration was one making the part of six not less than 

 three in the proportion of trainees to journeymen, so that 

 an employer could not take a trainee unless he had at least 

 three journeymen employed. A provision was, however, 

 made in the altered regulation allowing the reduction of 

 the minimum to one in any case where trade conditions 

 rendered a lower minimum necessary, and provided that 

 the Soldiers' Industrial Committee consented. The susten- 

 ance paid during the student period and the refund to 

 employers made on behalf of the trainees, have been, from 

 the beginning, made a gift to the men who have been 

 trained for trade callings. 



By the terms of an agreement with each of the State 

 Educational Departments, space and equipment in the 

 technical colleges and trades schools not required for 

 ordinary technical education was made available to the 

 Repatriation Department without charge for the training 

 of the soldiers. This agreement also provided that 

 additional accommodation, equipment and teaching staff 

 would be made available wherever necessary, provided 



