LABOUR AND THE SOLDIER

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 230, 25 September 1920, Page 17

LABOUR AND THE SOLDIER

LITTLE CONSIDERATION IN ENGLAND. (Hy W.U.M.I British industries at present are in tlie anomalous position of languishing for lack of labour while thousands of ablebodied men are unemployed. ThU is in part due to the attitude taken up by tlie trade unions, who in many oases are actually preventing ex-sorviee men from learning a trade. Tlie Minister of Health (Dr. Addison) says that in spite of the acute shortage in labour required for house construction tlie trade unions concerned are not prepared to assent at present to the employment of ex-service men in their trades who were not formerly apprentices,, except in the case of a certain percentage of disabled men. Tlie contention of the unions is that it takes years to train a man to lay a few bricks. and apparently they are aiming at sneh a high degree of technical skill t)iat they hope to see the day when it will take years for a man to lay them after he has been trained. The danger of admitting insufficiently trained men is that they do not appreciate the true dignity of the craft, and they might introduce a vulgar rapidity of movement at variance with the etiquette of the profession. The operatives engaged in tlie leather and boot and shoe trades in London number 46,000, and they have generously, agreed to admit 200 ex-service men to their ranks provided these newcomers are under .'id years of age and have lost at icaet one leg ea:h. This last stipulation is to ensure thai the ex-service men shall not stand on the same footing as tlie older members. The Leeds Ironmouklers' Union has not made any definite discrimination against returned soldiers, but it i has stipulated that no new members i shall be admitted if they arc over 10 years of age. The Amalgamated Society of Engineers, with a membership of over half a million, rejected the Government's proposal that it ehould permit 1730 demobilised soldiers to join its ranks. Doubtless there is much to be said for the attitude taken up hy the trade unions. It has taken >ears to train the worker in the traditions of his profession and to inculcate a nice appreciation of professional etiquette. Xewcomcrs might easily violate some of the most cherished traditions, and so bring discredit on the craft. Many a man can lay bricks with, sufficient skill to build a house, or even a chimney, but real professional skill in these matters is not acquired in a hurry. The craft dates back to the days of Romulus and Remus, who laid dow-n the motto of the true worker, that he should remember that Rome was not built in a day. Hurry is fatal to ail true art. The real artist gives deliberate treatment to each individual b.-ick, and is too conscientious to attempt anything when the sky is overcast and the light is bad. Thanks to the attitude of trade unions the profession has broken away from the crude ha.<te of the Georgian era, and the modern i bricklayer prides himself on the quality rather than the quantity of his output. Many unions have shown themselves willing to admit a certain proportion of disabled men because a man who has lost an arm or a leg is not likely to infringe { the sacred tradition of "Festina Lente," but a wholesale inclusion of new members, might result in exhibitions of energy that would be at variance with that repose that stamps the caste of Bill-de-Jones.