40-HOUR WEEK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 255, 28 October 1935, Page 9

40-HOUR WEEK.

KEEN SUPPORTER.

SIR FREDERICK STEWART.

EMPLOYER AND STATESMAN.

Speaking as an employer on a very large scale, Sir Frederick Stewart, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Re-employ-ment in the Commonwealth Government, who is returning to Australia by the Monowai from a world tour, said to-day that a 40-hour week without any reduction in wages was not only practicable in Australia, but was an inevitable and desirable development.

Sir Frederick began life as an employee of the New South Wales Railways at Newcastle. He resigned in 1920 to enter the land subdivision business and got his chance when the New South Wales Tramways Department refused an extension to Chullora, a Sydney suburb. Jn a short time he was operating 85 buses to all parts of Sydney with a capital value of £210,000. Sir Frederick is still interested in many well-known Australian enterprises, but of recent years has devoted more time to politics and has visited New Zealand as Commonwealth Minister of Commerce. He has a keen personal interest in the unemployment problem and at his own request was appointed by Mr. Lyons to his present office without salary or a seat in the Cabinet. He has given large sums to various charities.

Sir Frederick attended the International Labour Office annual convention at Geneva as a representative of Australia. The convention adopted the principle of a 40-hour week, but deferred for discussion next year the question of its application to specific industries.

At Geneva Sir Frederick spoke strongly in favour of the 40-hour week, and when asked to-day if it was practicable for Australian employers now ho replied:, "I definitely say that it is. Of course it would be better if it were an international arrangement, but we have not waited on the rest of tlie world in the past to introduce industrial improvements, and we have the means of protecting industries which in the pursuance of national policies'introduce improvements ahead of oth?r countries. I say here, as I did at Geneva, that employers, and I speak as one, _ are inclined to think that wages constitute a much greater factor in -production costs than they really are." National Insurance. Sir Frederick also investigated for the Commonwealth Government "national health insurance and unemployment insurance schemes and is returning a strong believer in them. He said that the British schemes were the most suitable for application to Australia, and he saw no reason why, with some modifications, there should be any difficulty in applying them. His recommendations to the Commonwealth Government will be along these lines, and they will mark a new development in Australian social services. A bill was once introduced by the Bruce-Page Government for health and old age insurance, but it did not get further than a first reading. The only insurance scheme in Australia to-day is an unemployment plan in Queensland which covers certain sections of the people.

"I was very pleased," said Sir Frederick, "to note the growing disposition for closer collaboration between New Zealand and Australia in overseas marketing. The need for this was impressed on me while I was in charge of the Department of Commerce. Seeing that the two countries supply the same products to' the same consumers, and liave the same seasonal conditions, it is just as essential to have -co-operation between them as it is between the various States of the Commonwealth.

"I was greatly disappointed to find that the difficulty between New Zealand and Australia in respect to onions and potatoes had not been resolved. At Geneva it was commonly said that a necessary preliminary to any improvement in world conditions was greater elasticity in international trade. If this is so it only shows up more tragically the failure of two neighbouring members of the British Commonwealth of Nations to settle a simple matter at issue between them. I use the word .simple advisedly, because with a complete knowledge of the facts I refuse to believe that there is any justifiable difficulty, unless one is going to consider the selfishness of producers — and this applies to both sides of the Tasman —as such. However, I am hoping that better counsels will prevail. As Minister responsible for the appointment of Mr. Nesbit as Australian representative in New Zealand, I am pleased to learn of the manner in which he has been received, and I hope that he will be one of the means by which the difficulties to which I have referred will be solved." Transport and Tourists. As a transport expert, Sir Frederick was convinced by the way in which the London buses lifted the unprecedented jubilee traffic of the pre-eminence of buses for metropolitan work. He said he was also greatly impressed by the efficiency of the British railways, which demonstrated that for long-distance transport, particularly of commodities, railways were still in the forefront. There was room for considerable improvements in the Australian systems, particularly in increased speed and air conditioning of carriages. Having motored 0000 miles across America, he wished to pay a tribute to their highways, which made possible comfortable motoring at high speeds for continual periods. Sir Frederick also urged the need of greater co-operation between Australia and New Zealand in the development of the tourist trade.

"My travels have added," he said, "to my knowledge of the great value to some countries of the tourist service, and I see 110 reason why New Zealand and Australia should not participate in it to a much greater extent than they do to-day. There is one tiling they will have to do to enable this, that is, speed up transport arrangements, particularly steamer services. My journey from Vancouver to Sydney will occupy 24 days. A week or two ago a steamer with wool from Sydney to Dunkirk did twice the distance in 30 days. I see no feason why the journey from Sydney to London should not be accomplished in less than four weeks, and the journey from the American coast to Sycl ey in 2J weeks. To do this, I know, will cost money, and that will mean further co-operation between the Governments and the shipping companies."

Sir Frederick said, in answer to a question, that by this he meant higher subsidies for the companies. He added that it was a matter on which 110 intended to report to the Australian Government.

Sir Frederick is accompanied by Lady Stewart and their two daughters, and by his personal secretary, Mr. E. Harding.