EMPLOYERS AND THEIR DUTY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2550, 26 August 1915, Page 4

EMPLOYERS AND THEIR DUTY

If the Government is to undertake the compilation of a National Register it is well that the wcrk should be done as thoroughly .a-s possible. There is one important respect in which Mr. Massev's Bill is defective. The questions to be answered will discover those young'men whose duty it is to aid by giving their , bodies in the servicc of the State, but will throw little, light on the attitude of those older men whose place is here in New Zealand. Most of the- recruits are wage-earners, and what many people want to know is what their employers are doing for them. Tho Government recruiting system is proving itself quite 'unable to keep pace with the desire of young Now Zealand to serve. But is the patriotism' of the employers in all cases on quite the same level as that of their employees? In most eases wo~ belieye it is. But reports are frequently reaching this office of actions on tho part, of certain business people calculated to discourage recruiting. . Wo are in no position to make a searching inquisition into tho accuracy of these complaints; but. the Government is, and a very good time to do it will be in the National Register. Let every employer, be asked how many men of military ago are in his employ; how many of them liave enlisted; whether he ie willing to keep the positions open of all who Jo enlist, and if not, why not. Indeed, the Government would be well advised to go further and call upon all employers not reinstating their men on their discharge to show cause. Nobody wishes to press hardly on struggling employers whose circumstances may have changed materially for the worse before their former employees return from the front. Everybody, however, wishes to bring to book the shirking employer who wants the Empire defended at the expense of ■ other people. We have had complaints that certain employers have been discuraging their employees from enlisting by refusing to keep their positions open to them after the war is over. In a certain legal firm:junior clerks, on enlisting, are stated to have been obliged definitely to sever, their connection with the,establishment, ancl other youths have been engaged in their places. These latter, though of military age and presumably sound in wind and limb, apparently prefer to stay' in New Zealand and. step into .'other people's _ shoes instead of enlisting. _ This is bad enough, but it is ten times worse to' find responsible business men bundling the recruits on their staffs out for good and all, and presenting, their positions permanently to shirkers. What sort of patriots do such peoplo call themselves? Such instances as we have quoted are, we believe, rare. In most cases pressure on the employer is happily as unnecessary as pressure on the wageearner. Tho exceptions on both sides will have to be dealt .with if justice is to be done. We hope the Government will mako a beginning in the National Register schedule of questions, and we hope that that beginning will not ond there.