SOME BYPATHS TO ECONOMY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14705, 4 June 1920, Page 2

SOME BYPATHS TO ECONOMY.

(Bv A. M. Drysdale.)

Having temporarily lost the service of our domestic help, we have been obliged to economise pur remaining force, and instead of having our food carried to us in a room in the front of the house "we have carried ourselves to our food in the kitchen at the back, where it is prepared. I need not dweM upon the myriad savings thus effected; these will be appreciated by housewives, who may inform their men folk if they choose. • But this so trivial and yet so beneficent revolution has set me thinking of an always congenial topic, economy in general,"big and small, far and near. Why does America send us, across the ocean, from the kitchen to the din-ing-room as it were, so much of its cotton, only to purchase it from us again as clothing, with all the charges of its two voyages, each a week long, added to its original cost? Why not. — as we have done in our little houseeliminate these two 'time-wasting; energy-wasting, and money-wasting journeys to and fro, and itself manufacture its raw material at the source? Then not only America, but the whole world—including Oldham and the rest of the British Empire—would have cheaper cotton goods and- more time, more energy, - and more money to expend on otfier objects. Strange that these simple, even obvious revolutions of old practice, the changes that make all the difference for good, should yet be so difficult to pet adopted! Has anyone forgotten the mountainous obstacles which ten year;? ago made daylight saving impracticable and impossible in England, the country of its birth? But the war .came, and •the Germans,: not having heard of the fatal objections, quite simply put tlie

•English idea into operation, and saved coal and other things by accepting an additional hour of daylight from the sun. They had got their place in the chief 'luminary at last! But tho Blip belongs to everybody, and tho samo boon was forthwith accepted by Europe in general, last of all by cautious and practical Britain. This' one change alone, so natural as to seem now irresistible, •tho suggestion of an inconspicuous Englishman, has done more for tho welfare and the happiness of mankind than twenty years of legislation. Its economies are incalculable. Another big, simple thing was dono the other day whicii deserves at least first mention after daylight saving. Tho Canadian Minister of Naval Service ordered the demobilisation of tlie Dominion Navy, the sale of its warshipa. the dismantling of ite dockyards, and the disbandment of its officers, and then "went out of town"—presumably to avoid meddlesome and dilatory CJpostulation. Would that the whole world would follow the simple example of this matter-of-fact Scot I The mere thought of it is enough to affect tho desperate taxpayer with dizziness. Then there is the mueh-discusfiM <Jeeree of another distant Government to conscript ite man power for industry as-well as for war—Carl,yip's 80-year-old panacea for all our social ills, "Cook's son, duke's son,,sou of a millionaire," we all should have to go ana do "our bit" in mine and factory under this application of conscription. Why not? It would increase production, extinguish the sense of unfairness which breeds discontent and revolt, and would substitute for the most odious class dislinclions the one simple distinction between the indus-: triou.s and the idle. The economies indicated (hero ?° very deep, ,Ind reach very far. " r Frederic Harrison could then 110 reproach any large number of "".J, receiving doles, for all of us would Mi wealth producers, according to ft P, r ®j portioned scheme, and no able-bodied or able-minded person would be pur"' sito or dependent. _ • But, starting from the kite lion, w< have soared into somewhat lofty f® gions. Let us return to our liomei, overy-day concern. ... j„ If it has been found possible to eate tho customers of tho nublic-nousv into a, six-hours' business day, is tni any reason why general shoppers *)no nt bo similarly drilled and habituutM Think of tho saving on both sid c s, saving of time, of commodities, or , power. There would be fewer S " O P sistants, but there would bo 'noro P" dueers, or, if the number of shop , sistants remained the same, they _ have leisure to cultivate a complishment, and so make their and those of their neighbors fullfli more interesting. , , And, while the Stale is.about it, « it apnlv a. similar disci pi mo !■ 70,000 agents of the uidiistrial i nß ■ alien companies, who could bo c P V with bolter economic rcsultSi 0 themselves and the working-class wives, whom they now s0 0 . a long interrupt in their duties. timo and short-number tneni» * interest of the fighting huo dustrial front. w hcjH There is one. pubhp man ., I nnDea these sketchy suggestions when I u oth nractical and obvious. , Eric Geddes has standardised ways, so that they can bou , as competitively as the canals . ways, all other national econ look small in comparison. J a new birth for British com . [ hope his intended elcctnficat.on« not stop at the penna ncntjvnj him electrify tho director a haps even the passenger, tno , tho street. —'• .-M For FISHING. SHOO T][N ,ING " WINCONSIN ..J.J Motor is invaluable. M® j boat out of row boat or P I minute. No fdterntioi s Manning Co., 3 Bedfor 1 * church. You can't sleep wl f'"Unique" hot water bottle R feet rest. It will last for J sole evervwher.c. B»t n i the brand on neck of hi t