STUDY OF ECONOMICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17041, 24 December 1918, Page 7

STUDY OF ECONOMICS.

EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE.

OTAGO UNIVERSITY SCHEME. A proposal to institute extension classes at the University for the study of pressing economic problem* arising out of the war, was recently brought before the Otago University Council by the Chancellor, the Rev. Andrew Cameron. Mr. Cameron, I who has watched closely the work of ike ! Dtint'dm Educational Association, has had j the impression left on his mind that this wc rk would have a reaching effect upon the community. This gave lorn the iaea that something ought to ue attempted I by the University for the emp.oyers of labour and those engaged in commercial . pursuits. To :,hat end a schenw for the establishing of University extension classes has been approved by the council, and the work to be undertaken will be Similar to that done :n Australia and America by the Workers' Educational Association. I this scheme orgmated in the universities in , England, .vhere these classes have been. , conducted for many years, long before the j Workers' Educational Assoc.atlon came into existence. They had their origin at Cambridge, then Oxford followed, and they were then taken up by other universities, and ' gradually extended to America. It has now become recognised as a part of university work, and it carries university classes not only into the suburbs of great cities, but also into a large number of towns which are removed from university centres. The work in England which began with these classes has developed into a distinct university being established for the study "' of economic science. Interviewed on the subject, Archdeacon Woodthorpe, lecturer on economies at the Otago University and for the Workers' ; Educational Association, said that as a I: lie these classes were worked very much i on the same principles as the Workers' Educational Association classes. That I was, that they had a lectuie and then a tutorial class. Mr. Cameron's idea . wa» that such questions as industrial unresft and the cause or causes of it, with & probable solution of this problem, and the question of a reconstruction, each of which are pressing questions just now, might be considered in their entirety by men attending the extension classes. Archdeacon Woodthorpe's attention was I directed to the finding of the Investigaj tions Committee of the British Association of Arts and Sciences, which, under the I presidency of Professor Kirkaldy, of Manchester University, at the request of the Imperial Cabinet, investigated the prob- ; lem of industrial unrest. It was pointed out that after hearing a great deal of evi- , dencc from witnesses representing' all I sections of the industrial public, the comI mitteo reported that in its opinion the best I solution of this question was.-cc-cporation. Archdeacon Woodthorpe, when, asked for 1 an opinion on this finding, ' said that the I economic section of the British Association of Arts and Sciences dining the past three years had had a field of very valuable information, and its report deserved very careful analysis. His opinion was that the report was not quite up-to-date. . A good many of the suggestions were not in harmony with those expressed in.Whitey's report. His impression was that the work of the committee was somewhat circumscribed with regard, to its investigations, I and inclined to be not unnaturally desirous lof compromise. " What is wanted at the I present time, in mv judgment," continued Archdeacon Woodthorpe, '' is a move careful investigation on the part of a body of experienced thinkers aiid experts who are not tied by the associations of a committee belonging to bodies which, more or less, are handicapped by vested interests. What I would like to see would be a careful scries of studies of these problems by the best men we have, and I am sure we should get a very much more useful result." . The great difficulty to-day was that i economic suggestions were simply taken as I a watchword by political parties, and were ; valued only for the purpose of political ! propaganda. He was certain that the two things must be kept apart. He said this from his experience of the Workers' Edu- '■ cational Association. On the one side '< there appeared to be, on the part of the i extreme Labour Party, a kind of suspicion, that the teachers of economics were to , some extent influenced by class feeling and sympathy with capital in oil questions of industry. On the other hand, tbo j Government was inclined to be afraid of the Worker's Educational Association I movement because of an impression that it had that the trend of the teaching is influenced by sympathy with the aspirations of Labour. That was the position now in New Zealand. In the North Island especially the Government was unduly i timid with regard to the training of the . ! worker in economic science. The mo-t ! extreme section of Labour was suspicious 1 with respect to the enlightment of the . worker in all questions of industry. In ■: both cases it was mistaken prejudir , From a lone experience of public teacup ■» ': he believed that the most hopeful feature ; for the future wits the gradual training of 1 our Labour leader* and the most infin'eni tial men in the unions in the study of ] , economic subjects. He had noticed in j his own class that the presence of tho I employer in the class putting forward i some of his argument's had *-p>n of crept ■ service to the students. The mere fact ; that the emnWer sat side bv s ; d,> with i his men studvine these nrob'em o and to«k ■', his nlncp with the men in the d'sci'wsinns ( which followed wis a valonWe element in I tho gradual formation of a 'vendor nubile I nninion with repaid to tbe«e qiie'tiin.^. ,j He was rc'tnin it brought about a better understanding and a deener svmnnthv botween the emnlovce and the employer.