PRODUCTION IN CANADA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18026, 27 February 1922, Page 8

PRODUCTION IN CANADA.

■» MARKED INCREASE SHOWN. LOWER WAGE RATE RULING. The wage rate has decreased 30 per ceat. in Canada, following a post-war boom,: and production has increased by from 35 to 40 per cent., according to Mr.. R. M. Scrivener, a son of Mr. C. R. Scrivener, formerly Director of Commonwealth Lands and Surveys, who has recently returned to Sydney. "I will say this for Labour in Canada • it is now taking a sane view of the situation and facing facts," Mr. Scrivener told a" representative of the Sydney Morning Herald.. Mr. Scrivener, who served his articles in surveying in Australia, left for Canada in 1907 to graduate in engineering at the McGill University. After graduation, in 1911, he went to the United States for a year and a half, and then returned to Canada as sales manager of the Sangarao Company of Canada, at Toronto. "They-have got absolutely back to work," continued Mr. Scrivener, "and production- is equal to the pre-war itendard. This is due to some extent to improved methods. Eighteen Months age the position was serious. There was a false prosperity, and a perfect orgy of spending. It was not confined to the! workers, for every class spent freely, with j * th 6 result that the business done byi motor-ciir and clothing manufacturers increased enormously. In the summer of 1920 the men practically ran the manufacturing plants, and many of the mushroom firms produced by the war closed down. Even the executives lost.heart, .and wondered what the end would be. However, later on the boom began to col. lapse, and. as I said, the workers sanely faced the facts." As an instance of the remarkable increase in production, Mr. Scrivener quoted the Case of his own firm. When things were at their 'worst the company made 2500 electric meters monthly. With % 10 per cent, increase in the plant, conditions so improved that the production was 5500 a month. One of the factors in the depression which led to an increase of production, went on .Mr. Scrivener, was what was known &» tfie "buyers' strike," in September, 1920. It was not organised, but people simply would not, buy anything that they could possibly do without. The wholesale people had now practically liquidated all their high-priced stock. The retailers held up prices as long as tbey possibly couJd, but they were now recognising the inevitable. The transport systems, both in the United States and Canada, were now also getting back to normal, except for the shortage'of rolling otoek, but at one time demoralisation, cue to the same causes as the low production, was general. Men simply did not I care. You might ship 10 cars, and'find that eight arrived safely. If you were. Vicky the missing two might turn up jfter six or twelve months, or might not! /urn up at all. Wages have come down on an average 30 per cent, in the last 18 months, con-' Mmied Mr. Scrivener, and may probably' go down further this winter. In the metal industry the bonus and piecework systems were in operation. In tfie former a work-1 nrolfii a mi T um wa S e > a nd anvthing, manS ° Ver that Was share d With the rtue was a daily wage.