Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE SATURDAY DECEMBER 12, 1925. LESSON FROM VICKERS’

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 December 1925, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE SATURDAY DECEMBER 12, 1925. LESSON FROM VICKERS’

Those Labour leaders who can wax eloquent on the slightest provocation about the gains of the “bloated capitalists,” maintain still silence when the other side of the picture is presented. They never impress on the workers that investors have their losses as well as their profits. The Homeland of recent years has supplied several notable instances of big financial

deficits '-‘by. tradings concerns, especially those of the “combine” character. The ycsi* ’s operatiofis as detailecl in’the respective ailiLttal reports tell of large losses incurred, dividends have had to be passed for the time : being, or the reserve funds depleted to enable the shareholders td, get some return for their capital. Such experiences are .part of the risk investors have, to take, and there is no need to become unduly anxious on their behalf. Yet it is well’ for the Working classes ..to take some notice of the fa?jt that, such Ipsses are inc.urred by those, who are, always portrayed to them as fattening on the. labourers’ efforts. Such meditation should help employees not to ,begrudge employers ‘ their ' just gains, which lack of envy would help to’ decrease the, tendency to class-hatred fostered by strifemongers. Some capitalists, of course, obtain 1 more for thkir money than they really deserve, but even among workers there are iSome, who get wages, beyond their deserts. Go-slow, is the employees’ form of profiteering, and its existence cannot be denied. The latest 'example of heavy loss by a combine. is that of the collection of engineering, shipbuilding, and armament firms, called Vickers Ltd., whose works .and- productions are world-famous. Apparently, this combine has been hard hit by the -world’s desire ‘ for peace, and by the depression in the shipbuilding industry. The first; cause, will be re/gretfed by few, but the. latter supplies an instance for sympathy rather than exultation. It will not be the capitalists only -who will lose, as the closing of some of the firm’s branches and works must mean dismissal to many, employees. In time, wise re-construction o)f policy -will doubtless re-establish Vickers’ to a position of supremacy, but meanwhile, their employees will suffer most. The report of the commission of enquiry declares that much of the deficit was due to the management not being sufficiently alert to make provision for the. new outlook, and tliis is another item that can be taken to heart by those who pretend to believe that the workers produce all values, and should therefore be given all the harvest of industry. Vickers’ experiences is a demonstration that administration is as important as production, and. that the latter cannot be remunerative without the help of the former. Were the workers encouraged by Labour leaders to be just in their thinking, many of the economic theories, upheld in trade union circles would be seen by the members to be ridiculous. The result would be that with better appreciation of the special task of the “bosses,” workers would realise more the necessity for a, fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, so far as they themselves were concerned. This principle is as essential.in small businesses as in large, and if New Zealand were ever to pass through a period of slump, the unhappy experiences, of Homeland firms would be repeated here, in those establishments where both Capital and Labour were not doing their respective parts with efficiency and zeal.