N.Z. FACTORY PLANT

Press, Volume C, Issue 29608, 2 September 1961, Page 10

N.Z. FACTORY PLANT

Longer Work Day Urged

(N.Z. Press Association)

DUNEDIN, September 1. If New Zealand is to maintain anything like its present standards of living in the next decade, greater use must be made of existing resources, Dr. G. B. Battersby. dean of the faculty of commerce at the University of Canterbury and a member of the Economic and Monetary Council, said today. In a paper on the cost structure of business, delivered to the study conference being held by the University of Otago accountancy department, Dr. Battersby said that greater care must also be taken in “directing our savings to the most productive ends." “Throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand, there is millions of pounds worth of plant, occupied eight hours a day or less, which will be technically obsolete before it is worn out ,and which might, therefore, be brought into further operation at virtually no additional cost. “At the same time our overseas funds are being run down by extravagant additions to plant which are also to be used for eight hours a day or less. “We have only to compare this situation with that in Germany and Japan, where most plant is operated 24 hours a day, to understand one of the reasons why productivity in New Zealand is falling behind most other countries in the world.”