THE EFFICIENCY OF LABOUR

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 286, 17 August 1926, Page 5

THE EFFICIENCY OF LABOUR

WHAT MAKES A NATION WEALTHY FACTORS DETAILED BY PROFESSOR MURPHY There was a good attendance at the Red Cross Room, Dixon Street, on Saturday night when Professor li. E. Murphy continued his series of lectures tor the Workers’ Educational Association on “Some Problems of Labour,’’ and dealt with the important question of efficiency. '"The problem of efficiency of labour,” said the lecturer, “must be treated with regard to production, in supplying the material wants of the community and depends on seven main factors: —(1) Proper balance between population and environment. (2) Efficiency of State organisation. (3) Temperament of the community. (4) Employer capacity. (5) Employee capacity. (6) Education and leisure. (7) Wise expenditure of the resources of the community. "These must be dealt with one by one. To maximise welfare the population must be in adjustment to the resources —neither too sparse nor too dense. If too sparse, efficient organisation and maximum efficiency are not secured and there is waste of potential resources. If too dense, the population presses on the soil and the standard of life fails, because there are too many guests at nature’s table. Both sparse and overcrowded countries are always poor. “Efficiency of State covers stable and permanent political conditions, for revolutions and frequent changes are disturbing to economic life. In New Zealand there has been only one change of government in 34 years, and this is an element in our prosperity as it diffuses a fee'ing of security. Cheap, certain and speedy legal machinery is also important, especially for enforcing contracts, and this is a labour-saving device. Also a stable currency system, for a depreciating standard paralyses business and kills saving. Another point to be considered is an absence of taxation that is oppressive, otherwise the business man will not undertake constructive work in anticipating the future if he is deprived of the prospect of reward for risks, and allowed only the certainty of loss instead" of profits. Accumulated profits mean more capital, lower interest rates, less unemployment, higher wares, more goods and lower prices. A high level of commercial morality is also included under this heading.” In discussing temperament of the community, the lecturer said: "Methods of production are extremely subdivided and spread over a long period, and they require lengthy team work. This demands honesty, steadiness, toleration, conciliation and good temper, docility and goodwill, and submission to discipline. It takes brains, character and goodwill for team work, and when these cannot be deve oped modern industry cannot take root, and production drops off when they fall into abeyance owing to bitterness in the community. The go-slow policy as a weapon of war reduces production to an enormous extent. It is idle to blame either employer or worker for it, as the former is cupable for the irritation that started it and the latter for carrying it on. It is the worst blot on British industrial society at the present time, and means less profits, therefore less capital, less demand for labour, lower wages, more unemployment, fewer goods and services, higher' price and increased cost of living. "An employer to be an economic success must have the best qualities of the general imagination, judgment, courage, prudence administrative ability, for he is the true co-ordinator of the labour of others and his mistakes may neutralise the productivity of countless special workers. He must organise and put men where they will do the best work, he should have good judgment of inventions. processes, and exports; possess bold prudence and knowledge of men, and appreciate the advantages of science, both natural and social. It is very essential that an employer should be able to organise on maximum efficiency lines. British industry does not reach this standard, and the present deplorable coal position is largely due to defective entrepreneur ability. “Employee capacity covers moral qualities and intelligence treated under other headings, and also depends on race and climate. The people of the temperate zones are the most productive under present conditions, for its requires moderate but changeable ’climate without extremes of heat or cold, preferably between 40 and 55 degrees of latitude, and near the sea. Great industrial civilisations do not exist out of the temperate zones. In the tropics man is enervated because life is too easy, while at the Poles he is torpid because life is too hard. Monotonous toil dulls the mind and makes bad workers and bad citizens, thus causing unrest. It is the hope of reward that sweetens labour. and slave labour is never efficient. “The economic benefits of education in its wider and fuller sense are incalculable. It stimulates mental activity and curiosity, and promotes intelligence and character. Knowledge is power and it is also freedom. By it latent ability is brought to light and processes and industrial methods diffused. It shortens the period of training and enables less superintendence to be used, while saving waste of materials and facilitating the effective working of complex machinery. It provides a species of vocational test and eliminates misfits, at the same time promi ting harmony and lessening the grip of economic and other superstitions.” At the eame time there were some disadvantages arising out of education, as much of what passed for learning was a useless waste of energy, and the minds of the people became standardised. All might read but few are willing to think. An increase in the education of the masses also tended to congest the non-productive avenue; of employment.

"Spending money is not necessarily good for trade,” continued the speaker, "and luxurious expenditure by the rich does not help the tfoor, as it injures them by withdrawing capital and labour from works of necessity to works of luxury, thus making necessaries more scarce. For production there must be some idea of social trusteeship of wealth, for private property could not be left at the mere whim of the owners to destroy or not as they please. Unless it is conserved and socially employed production and the nation will decay.” An interesting discussion followed. The subject for next Saturdav’s lecture will be "The Barometer of Wages.”