IS BRITAIN SLACKING?

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 151, 29 June 1927, Page 16

IS BRITAIN SLACKING?

LONDONER'S INDICTMENT. GERMAN WORKERS STANDARD. Writing to a London newspaper, a correspondent compares the industry and methods of the prreat German firms with those of the British, and asks: "Are our post-war methods and skill i« business so superior to those of Germany, and is our grip on the world's markets so secure that we can afford to saddle ourselves with what is virtually a sixhour day and a five-day week?" "'Many shrewd judges," he says, "have been astounded at the remarkable rise of Germany during the last few years, < but to one like myself, who has had . unique opportunities for extended and intimate observation of her methods, and ( the intense application and grasp of her • executive leaders and workers during : years of hardship and difficulty, the ■ ] results achieved appear to be the inevit-1 able fruits of hard work intelligently applied." Start at 10 a.m. . The writer complains that in London , it is well-nigh impossible to transact ( any business before 10 a.m., whereas in German cities the staffs -of all offices have settled down to the day's work before 8.30 a.m. ■, He estimates that the average German business week day comprises eight hours , of useful work, as against not more than , six hours in London. ; "A large proportion of London office ] principals," he continues, "do not attend ' office on Saturdays. ■ 'The logical reflex of this is that many ' minor executives, and even purely ' clerical members of office staffs, are ! excused from business on Saturdays. 1 Saturday Work in Germany. , "In Germany many trades and indus- 1 tries work until 5 p.m. on Saturdays, and t even on Sunday mornings the principals s attend office and examine the mail. t "In a cursory passage through London <] streets in the morning and afternoon one ymeets innumerable youths bound to or from the cafes, which do a nourishing j business during such hours. _ "If the same cursory passage is made j in the streets of German cities, one is ! y, impressed by their relatively deserted appearance. Wrong Counsels. \ "In Britaia to-day there is a widespread and much-advertised belief that t all that is necessary for our deliverance a from colossal unemployment and the v 'cancer of the dole' is 'peace in indus- o try.' o "That this alone is sufficient is surely a fallacy. Much has been written regard- t ing the need for greater per capita pro- m cluction. from skilled and unskilled wor- v kers, and also from the luucli-übused [\ miners. "Such counsels and exhortations alone {_ savour of incongruity if at the same j, time here in London, in the heart of the Empire, a determined attempt is not j< made to get back to the elementary principles of hard work. a "The inconsistency of exhorting wor- a kers to a 4S-hour week, while the vast T majority of our black-coated city office j, staffs are adding to the on-cost of such s products by a leisured 30-hour week, with Saturdays abandoned to sport or idleness, is transparently obvious."