40-HOUR WEEK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 233, 1 October 1937, Page 14

40-HOUR WEEK.

INDUSTRY'S TROUBLES.

MAXI"KACTC!\IX<; TV FRANCE

"The 40-liour week in France has caused industrial turmoil." said Mr. F. Levey, n Melbourne manufacturer, who was a through passen-jer bv the Monterey to day after a world tour.

Mr. Levey ex|i"n-nc» t"iat. following the devaluation of the franc, the manufacturers of France had a stronger position in their home market and hud equipped their industries and expanded their production to meet this position, luit the 40-hour week had brought with it euch increases in costs and other difficulties that they were immediately confronted with serious problems. When he was in Paris just prior to the fall of the Blum Government there was apprehension amonir manufacturers in every branch of production.

That the Paris International Exhibition was not ready on the opening date was. he said, attributed to the 40-liour week and the labour troubles. The organisers of the exhibition, like the private business people, experienced the impossibility of adhering to plans in view of the curtailment.

At the same time, added Mr. Levey, there was no lack of spending in France. The young people particularly were spending freely, and a wise old Frenchman had said to him. "There is no more the old woollen stocking.'* The thriftjness of the peasant was little practised by the rising generation. The same attitude of youth was noticeable in Switzerland.