BRITISH INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19291, 1 April 1926, Page 9

BRITISH INDUSTRY.

REPORT OF COMMISSION. 1 HIGHER WAGES, SHORTER HOURS. LONDON. March. 26. The committee, under the chairmanship of Sir Arthur Balfour, which was appointed by Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald in July, 1924, to inquire into the conditions and prospects of British industry and commerce, has issued its second report. It is stated that wages throughout British industry rose 70 to 75 per. cent, between 1914 and 1925, and those of utv skilled workers from 80 to 90 per cent., as compared with a rise of from 60 t0.70 per cent, for skilled workers. Sheltered trades obtained advances of from 80 to 120 per cent., contrasting with a 60 per cent, advance in trades exposed to foreign competition. The working week in 1914 averaged 53 to 54 hours, but to-day it was 48. ■ " ■ The report emphasises America's' view that welfare work is essential to good business, and not merely as a philanthropic measure. It is estimated that unemployment for the four years, 1921-4, cost 74,000,000 man-weeks of potential work, proving that the readjustment of personnel and plant from war time to peace time was still incomplete. Reviewing compulsory arbitration in Australasia and Canada, the report comments that where compulsion is present, conciliation, in the true sense, will be neglected. Taking wages in London as 100 points, those in other places were:—New lork 224, Ottawa 15)5, Denmark 138, Germany 63, Belgium 59, Italy 50, France 49. The Daily Mail urges mora merry for the British taxpayer and less sentimental enthusiasm for everyone else. It says it is significant that the United States, Italy, Franco and Germany are not suffering like Britain. r