Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 1922. CANADA SETS AX EXAMPLE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 430, 22 June 1922, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 1922. CANADA SETS AX EXAMPLE.

Canada is veiling the other British Dominions an example in the way her people have settled down to work and made the best of the very unsatisfactory post-war conditions. Tho cost of ! living advanced to an even greater extent in the Dominion of Canada than ii did in any of the other Dominions of the Empire, standing at 120 per cent, above the 1914 level in June., 1920. Wages, of course, went up there just as they did here; but it came to bo generally recognised lluu before there could be any appreciable reduction in J the cost of living wages mttst come ; down and that there must be increased ! production. The war years had ivit- ; nessod a hilling off in production, just 1 as there was also a falling off in I his Dominion, and ii was necessary thai the position should be laced. Condii :■> in 1920 were very similar to the conditions here. All classes wire spending money on the most extravagant Itasis, with the result that, even with ihe high prices which prevailed, business boomed everywhere and a false prosperity was engendered, the collapse oi which could not fail to act more or less disastrously. The business done by motor car and clothing manufacturers, in particular, increased enormously, and in J 920 the men were practically running the manufacturing plants, although many oi the mushroom firms created by the war had had to close down. But, with the collapse oi the boom, the workers had to recognise the position, and to their credit be it said they laced it sanely and courageously. Following the post-war boom they aci opted a reduction ol 3d per cent, in wages, and, putting forward their best efforts, increased production by from []") to ID per cent., with the result that production is now quite up to the prewar standard, and the cost of living lias fallen from the 120 per cent, above the I''! I level, at which it. stood in • Itine, 1920. when the boom was at its height, to I:! per cent, above that standard. A recent, visitor to Australia from Canada, Mr R. M. Scrivener, who is a member of an electrical engineering firm in that Dominion, gave, as an instance of the remarkable increase in production, the ease o) his own firm. When things wore at their worst the firm was only turning out 2500 electric i motors monthly. With a 10 per cent,

increase in blip plant conditions so improved that the production went up to 5500 per month. A "buyers' strike," which occurred in September, 1920, curiously enough proved to bo one oi the factors leading to increased production. It was not organised in anyway, but people simply would not. buy anything that they could possibly do without, and wholesalers and retailers alike, recognising the situation, cut their prices to get rid of their highpriced goods. The transport systems are now getting back to normal, although the rolling stock is still short, but the men aro working better. At one time demoralisation prevailed throughout the services; the transport workers .simply did not care. -Now, despite the fact that wages have come down on the average 30 per cent, dining the last eighteen months, and there is the prospect of their going down further still, things have got hack to much the old state of pre-war efficiency. In the metal industry. Mr Scrivener says, the bonus and piecework systems are in operation. In the former a workman receives a minimum wage, and anything produced over that is shared on a fifty-fifty basis. A firstclass man on piece work makes very high wages, Mr Scrivener states. _ A daily wage is, however, the rule with jobbing plants. It is satisfactory to know that the strike fever has wholly abated in Canada, and that both employers and employees _ are working together on the most amicable terms.