THE BOREOM OF WORK.

Grey River Argus, 24 November 1910, Page 8

THE BOREOM OF WORK.

Mr H. G. Wells contributes a char-' acteristic article to the "Daily Mail" on .the industrial unrest in the' Old Country. The source •■•■ of the 'trouble, he declares, is ithe monotony of work.The cause of -so many strikes is not low wages or dangerous .^conditions; but simply that the workman ds bored with his work. "The essential probr lem of modern labour is the problem of boredom. As Moday morning creeps round the earth it brings with it to ■uncounted millions that intolerV able pang." Mr Wells has no patience with the doctrine which' he says vitiates all discussions -and legislation on the subject, that people ousrht to like work for its own sake. They do not, and for practical purposes that . : s the things tha" matters. The ordinary worker "is In the position of doing things that he .does not particularly want done, far ends he either does not undefstand or with which he does not sympathise." Mr Wells says the Labour leaders forget this more than any one. "They lead -lives of infinite variety and endless excitement, they do work to which they have come by deliberate choice and special aptitude, they are always in ho'f water, going from conference co public meeting and from committee to Parliament. They forget the original -boredom that drove them into politics, as "it drives : men of other 'types to dfam-drinking." Banish .all the evils to which "unrest is ascribed, and establish a system of universal employment at : good wages, and workmen ; - will fell discontented when the whistle sounds on Monday morning Bu': Mr Wells does not despair of the problem. Work, he says, need not bor e the worker. Hi s own (Mr Wells's) .work i s a pleasure 'to him. "The problem is no more insoluble tha:i the problem of mechanical flight" was insoluaHle, and I'am1 'am a s "certain now that it will be solved as I was in 1890 that men would fly." But at this point Mr Wells siops; he doe s not tell us how all .men and women are to be given work that delights .them.