THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1931. LABOUR AND THE OUTLOOK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20842, 8 April 1931, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1931. LABOUR AND THE OUTLOOK.

Two statements coming from leaders of the Labour movement in New Zealand, both bearing ■ on present conditions and future prospects, have presented themselves almost simultaneously. They invite examination to discover how far those who claim to speak for a large and important section of the community show themselves to be in touch with the realities of the day. Mr. J. Thorn, president of the New Zealand Labour Party, in his address at the opening of its conference, referred to the displacement of men by machines, and said "the remedy was to reduce hours and to pay wages that would allow the workers to come effectively into the market." This specific of shorter hours to alleviate unemployment has attracted a good deal of support. In considering it, it is necessary .to state definitely what is meant, a shorter working day at the old daily rate of wages, or fewer working hours at the same hourly rate as already prevails. The first method needs little consideration in a time of unemployment and industrial depression. The only question is, where can the industry be found that could stand it at present? Until that is met —and the answer will not be easily found —there is no profit in discussing it. The second interpretation would mean employing more men for fewer hours, and distributing among them the same amount in wages—in short, a form of rationing. It would not satisfy Mr. Thorn, as his reference to wages shows. It has, however, appealed to others, students of tho economic situation, who have seriously advocated it as a means of widening the field of employment. Superficially attractive, it is, nevertheless, based on fallacy. Examination of it shows that it would aggravate instead of curing the principal evil in men's minds at the present time, the evil of unemployment. To employ 44 men for 40 hours instead of 40 men for 44 hours appears on the surface the same thing if the | total sum of wages paid the 40 is | distributed among the 44. The only difference, at first sight, is that more men would be employed. This would be so if man-power were the only factor in production, if the workers needed no equipment save their own bare hands. This is not so. To employ the 44 would demand more machines, more space, more organisation and supervision in the skilled crafts, more picks, shovels and wheelbarrows in the unskilled. This puts in the crudest form the unavoidable fact that to employ larger staffs of any kind for a shorter time would increase overhead costs. Where industries are competing against overseas rivals either for the domestic or the foreign market —and this is so, broadly speaking, with all New Zealand industries—the inevitable result would be an increased handicap, which in the extreme would force them to drop out of the race altogether. If that happened, the field of employment would be narrowed further, the last result the country can afford at present. At best the power of expansion would be reduced, the chance of employing more hands and of helping in the economic recovery of the country would be lessened. From the viewpoint of public finance, the strength 'of industries which contribute to it substantially through taxation would be impaired and further difficulties would be created. No remedy for present Ills ■is of any value unless it promises to reduce tho cost of production and increase the competitive strength of New Zealand products. The shortening of working hours threatens to produce the contrary effect, hence its essentially fallacious character as j a remedy for present social and economic difficulties. The advocacy of it ignores basic principles which cannot be swept away simply because they obstruct an easy specific for depression and unemployment. The proposal for shorter hours comes from the industrial side of the Labour movement. Its leader in the political field. Mr. Holland, appears with the statement that all the public servants and wage-earners need to do to have salary and wage outs restored is to return a Labour Government to power. In other words, he is endeavouring to gain party advantage out of the country's difficulties just as he did three years ago over the Samoan trouble. Before this sweeping promise can be accepted as of any value, Mr. Holland needs to explain what he would do to meet a state of emergency in public and private finance, the existence of which he will surely not attempt to deny. Suppose he were returned to power, suppose he were told by the Treasury officials—as he certainly would be —that taxation had reached or even passed the limit of safety, what policy would he have to offer the country after he had restored the cuts? Australia, both in the Federal sphere and in New South Wales, illustrates the desperate expedients to which Governments are driven when they shrink from necessary but unpalatable policies to meet urgent needs. Is Mr. Holland prepared to see such conditions arise in New Zealand? In Great Britain the Chancellor of the Exchequer faces a depleted Treasury, confesses that he cannot add "the last straw" of increased taxation to the burdens of industry, speaks of the necessity for universal sacrifices, but has not yet produced a policy to meet the situation. Would Mr. Holland commit this country to a similar process of drift? Obviously lie has not thought what he would do. He has merely begun electioneering. Of the two Labour statements, that of Mr. Thorn is the more temperately expressed. though quite unacceptable. Mr. Holland's is completely characteristic of one whose appeal is continually to prejudice, whose policies are never constructive, whose faculty for ignoring unpleasant realities is unsurpassed in New Zealand's political life.

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. The announcement that the city supplementary rolls close to-day should arouse all citizens to the nearness of the municipal elections and impress the desirability of a wide and active interest in them. There has been a Jittle stirring to action on the part of committees supporting candidates for the Mayoralty but not much else has been done. This betokens a prevalent apathy about civic affairs. There has been a good deal of criticism of the administrative work of the City Council. Such criticism too often stops at a negative stage, whereas no improvement can be effected without an intelligent and alert endeavour by the whole community to have the business of the city administered well. The elections present a unique opportunity to achieve the possible best, by persuading capable candidates to offer their services and by ventilating constructive ideas. It is of little use to bemoan civic inefficiency or stagnation after the elections are over and the elected candidates become naturally less attentive to public pressure. The most favourable time for that influence to be exerted is during the weeks preceding the elections. Whatever room there may be for complaint about mismanagement, it should be borne in mind that no municipality can get administrators better than it deserves. If it be apathetic, this will be reflected in the constitution and work of the council; if it bestir itself adequately, there is an infinitely better prospect of a good council and good administration. In the last analysis, it will be found that the measure of wise and effectual interest taken by citizens generally determines the sort of success achieved by the council. On them all depends, to an extent impossible to exaggerate, how the next council is to be composed and how it will do its work; and the time for their decisive thought and action has arrived.