INDUSTRY AND LEISURE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22209, 9 September 1935, Page 8

INDUSTRY AND LEISURE

Auckland boat-builders are busier this year than ever before. Their yards are filled with the sound and clatter of cheerful activity, especially cheerful because their labours minister to an ideal pastime and speak in advance of the warm and splendid procession of summer days. They speak also of a changed public outlook, turning away at last from the blankness of depression and toward a future that every day becomes less hostile and more confidently friendly. People once again are ready to plan ahead and so the boat-builders are busy for months in advance on the yachts and launches that will make many a happy jaunt and brave cruise in January and February. Their industry is largely to serve others' leisure. And that is the business of a growing proportion of modern industry. Machinery, improved productive methods, better organisation and the division of labour generally, have enabled man to provide his primary needs—food, shelter, clothing—with less expenditure of time and labour, thus giving him more leisure. As spare time increases, so does the business of filling it agreeably. Now that fewer are required to produce the bread and butter of life, more are engaged in providing the jam and the honey. With this social revolution has come a change in the public estimation of this business of catering for leisure. Until quite recent times the entertainer was looked down on. He toiled not, neither did he spin. He merely sang and danced, made verses or daubs. He could never be mistaken for the backbone of the country. Labour-saving has changed all that. Man found, when at last he had the time, that there were other senses to satisfy besides the primary appetites and emotions. The industries that minister to leisure began to grow and to-day are so flourishing that they fill a large part of the economic firmament. If mankind continues his progress, that movement will continue. The development of the radio, cinema and sports trades are conspicuous examples of what is happening. A large part of the huge transport industry, in its many ramifications, is devoted to the business of leisure. So also with the motor trade. It is a far cry from the Court jester, the despised butt of medieval times but also the pioneer, to the huge and prosperous entertainment industries of the present day.