LABOR AND PRODUCTION

Evening Star, Issue 17333, 22 April 1920, Page 6

LABOR AND PRODUCTION

♦ • SIR JAMES ALLEN'S VIEW. A PACT OF PEACE. At a luncheon given in his honor to-day Sir James Allen diagnosed as purely functional—the result of misapprehension the apparent state of hostility existing between employers and employees, which in many cases limits production. Always it had seemed strange to him, Sir James said, that in this young country of New Zealand .we couTd not always rely upon all our working men to give the be«| day's work for a good days pay. He had asked a bus"ness man (he addeS) to inquire why the American working m*a apparently did more in the day's work than the New Zealander. The answer had notf come, to hand chat tho working man in. America did not feel that the employer wa3 hostile to him, which feeling apparently existed in tho Mother Land and New Z«aland. He would like to sav that in his experience those of the New Zealand working men who had that feeling were mistaken. The bulk of the New Zealand employers were not hostile to their workers, and a large number of the latter were' not hostile to their employers. He was sure that among tho others tha suspicion of hostility would be dissolved. The American working man fought like a tiger for tho best wages but once the matter was Bettied he buckled to and did as much work as possible. If we could but achieve this universally, New Zealand would go ahead by leaps and bounds. We were not progressing as rapidly as we might if th'"s suspicion was dissolved, and every man put his shoulder to the wheel and never "went slow.