LIKED NEW ZEALAND

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 149, 19 March 1936, Page 13

LIKED NEW ZEALAND

Lord Trent's Observations SHORTER WORKING WEEK FORESEEN Observations on some aspects of life iu New Zealand as be saw it during bis three-weeks visit were made by Lord Trent, chairman and managing director of Boots Bure Drug Company, Limited, who left Auckland for Sydney a few days ago. He was accompanied by Lady Trent and their daughter, the Hou. Mary Boot, Colonel I'. Braithwaite, a director of the company, and Lady Victoria Braithwaite and Mr. and .Mrs. C. L. Saul. Business occupied a good deal of Lord 'Trent’s time, aud .be was able to visit only Auckland, Wellington. Christchurch and Rotorua. The women of the party went farther afield, and Lady Trent and her daughter saw something of country life in Canterbury and Hawke’s Bay. Ou the eve of bls departure, Lord Trent said be was much impressed by the open-air schools in Christchurch. They seemed excellent, and on his return to England he intended to tell Mr. Oliver Stanley, president of the Board of Education, about them. "1 imagine that your education system iu New Zealand is very efficient,” he continued. ’•Certainly there is a very good field for it. This is a farming country, and farming is becoming more scientific every year, so you have pleuty of room for agricultural education. Then there is vocational training for industry. It does not seem likely that ‘heavy’ industries will develop very much in New Zealand. Future for Light Industry. "That means that many of your young people will go into industries of a lighter kind, using intricate machinery and requiring skilled bauds to operate and mailalu it. Also modern people need to be educated so that they will think for themselves, and not allow dictators to do tbeir thinking for them. I am glad that there is no such thing as the dictatorship of the Press in New Zealaud. Your newspapers are fair and restrained and altogether very good indeed. ‘‘Then, too, whether the Government adopts a universal 40-hour week or not, it is certain that New Zealanders, like other people, will work shorter hours as time goes on—and to enjoy and use leisure requires a good general education.’’ Lord Trent said that iu the manufacturing departments of bis companies. which’employed not on! - chemiear workers but also printers, electricians and other tradesmen, the five-day week was universal and working hours had been reduced by two and a half to three weekly without any reduction in wages. The results had been entirely satisfactory, especially the effect on the worker’s output. New Zealand would gain much, he thought, if it were possible for potential visitors in Britain and America to have ready access to officials or representatives who could give them, from first-hand knowledge, a real idea of what the Dominion was like. It seemed to him that the present, publicity service left something to be desired in this respect. Tourists who came well informed were likely to allow themselves a longer time in the country and actually to stay longer. As it was. too many paid short visits and then hurried on in order to keep to tbeir itineraries.