MANPOWER POSITION

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23803, 24 November 1942, Page 6

MANPOWER POSITION

♦- QUESTIONNAIRE TO POWER BOARD The Electricity Controller (Mr F. T. M. Kissel) in a letter to the Waitaki Power Board, stated that the existing manpower position was such that the maximum effort should be made to assist the military authorities by critically reviewing staff, duties, hours, work, and essentiality of work on hand. Replies were requested to the following:—(1) General review of staff, indicating those available for release; (2) scrutinising of duties, discontinuing unnecessary work. What were the prospects of pooling meter-reading with the Gas Department; (3) the possibility and extent of replacing male labour with female labour; (4) to change from a normal working week of 40 hours to a 48-hour week; (5) details of essential work on hand or proposed, and absolute!# necessary maintenance work; (6) possibility of neighbouring supply authorities assisting one another to make the best use of available manpower. Mr J. Newlanda: That is a question that should be-considered by the Government. Mr J. M. Forrester: They won’t take the responsibility. The chairman (Mr J. McDiarmid) suggested replying to Mr Kissel, expressing the opinion that the foregoing were matters that should be dealt with by the Government. Mr Gillies asked if the Government was working more than 40 hours a week. The engineer replied that some departments were and that, to some extent, the board’s employees were working more than 40 hours a week. Finally the chairman and engineer were empowered to fill in the questionnaire.