OCCUPATIONS, WAGES AND LABOUR ORGANIZATION
Industrial Training
Apprenticeship and Vocational Training. Industrial train- ing in the form of apprenticeship is provided within Government service by the Kowloon-Canton Railway, by the electrical and mechanical and the waterworks branches of the Public Works Department, and by the Printing
Printing Department. Outside Government this form of training is offered by the two large commercial dockyards, the Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Co. Ltd. and the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Co. Ltd., (providing two types of training for boys of different educational standards), by the Royal Naval Dockyard (here called "trade boys"), by public utilities and by a number of other private firms both European and Chinese owned. All these under- takings watch with great interest the progress of the boys, who are encouraged, and sometimes given financial help, to attend technical classes. Elsewhere, in Chinese industries there is a good deal of apprenticeship but, generally speaking, it is ill- organized; these apprentices are provided with food of good quality and are given accommodation and a small wage, but systems of training are not rationalized and there is little or no theoretical instruction. With the object of raising the standard of apprenticeship conditions, the Labour Advisory Board set up a committee to study the question of apprentice- ship. The Report of this Committee and the draft Apprentice- ship Bill, which forms part of it, were submitted to the Board in June, 1953, and are now being considered by Government.
Training as an operative in one of the manifold processes of the Colony's industry is not run on formal lines and requires a much shorter time than a genuine apprenticeship, with the exception of the spinning mills where learners receive systematic and supervised training. The learner is usually introduced by a friend who often acts as tutor, or if the job is fairly simple, he learns by watching others. Proficiency increases with experience, and remuneration, which is often by piece-rates, is stepped up in proportion.
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