CONTROL OF INDUSTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21471, 20 April 1933, Page 9

CONTROL OF INDUSTRY

REGULATING PRODUCTION WOMAN MINISTER'S PLAN WASHINGTON. April 18 Unprecedented Federal control of the. production in industry would be permissible under amendments to the FiveDay Week Bill, proposed to the Labour Committee of the House of Representatives by Miss Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labour. Besides production control, Miss Perkins suggested the inclusion of a minimum wage provision. Members of the committee said production control was suggested as a means of equalising the hours of work in industry and preventing any one concern from obtaining a virtual monopoly. Any plant, under the general terms of the Five-Day Week Bill, it was pointed out, could run for 24 hours a day by employing four six-hour shifts. Another plant less fortunately situated as to available workers might have to reduce production as well as hours of work. One amendment suggested by Miss Perkins would let a new Federal Board decide how many bouts each week a manufacturer was entitled equitably to operate his plant. It' was pointed out that the authority might also be used to prevent surpluses of any particular kind of goods and thus keep prices up.