DAMAGE BY FLOODS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14280, 31 July 1908, Page 5

DAMAGE BY FLOODS

(Faojt Oub Owh Correspondent.) OAMARU, July 30. Tho damage done m tho Waimate County by tho heavy rains at the beginning of this month II3S totn.llocl, on tho engineer's estimate, £1494, of which sum £485 represents the damage in l th6 Waihao Hiding,

INDUSTKIAL EFFICIENCY,

REDUCED BY LEGISLATION,

THE POLICY OP "GOING SLOW." (Fbok Our Own Correspondent.)

CHRISTOHUROH, July 30. Speaking at tho annual meeting o£ tlie Employers' Association, Mr G. T. Booth, a _ well-known Ohtistoliurch manufacturer said strikes might bo made illegal and IJIO definition of a 6trika mada wide enough to apparently coyer tho whole ground, and aiders and abettors might bo included, but thai was not tho end ot the matter. Workmen, did not need to strike in any legal sense. Thoy could exert all the pres. suro thoy wanted to cxeirt on employers without doing anything of tlio kind. They luul a plan of their own, which had been well understood and worked for centuries, which ,was perfectly effective, and would bo effective no matter what law might bo in existence, and that was tho plan of "going slow." To show how that, plan t worked in New Zealand now ho quoted official figures relating to a oertain trado 'which ho would not mention, but which was by no means an unimportant part of tho industrial organisation of tho Dominion. In 1901 tho hands employod in tho trade numbered 4176, and horse-power used was 1937. Tho amount invested in land, buildings, and plant wa3 £455,621; value of material used, £495,599; paid in wages, £361.150; value of total product, £1,062,265; produced jjor man, £254 7s 6d. For the year 1905 tho following increasai had taken place:—Hands employed, 553; horse-power, 986; capital invested in land, buildings, and plant, £208,000; material used, £15,000; wages paid £53,411.. . The increase in tho output should havo been £140,669 with the additional ha.nd 9. employed, but if these were included the jncreaso in tho amount naicl in wages, in tho horse-power, and the amount of capital invested, tho increased product should havo amounted to £176,485." They would hardly believe him, ho thought, when ho told them that the actual increase in tho product in tho year 1905, as compared with 1901, was only £15,310. The product per man fell, as between 1901 and 1905, from , £254 7s 6d. to £224 17s 3d, a falling off in efficiency of 12 per cent. But nearly tho wholfe, increase in tho value of tho product was accounted for by the increased amount of material used, bo that tho extra labour amd the extra capital invested yielded tho employers of tho trade tho magnificent sum of £440. It was hardly too much to say that for all that expenditure of timo and money and tho labour of 553 men tho country gained nothing. That happened to be a trado not so much harassed by labour conditions as others, nor was it a case of slackness in trade, but rather tho reverse, for that particular trado was fairly active at the timo. The valuo of imports, however, had increased by £234,184, while the value of tho local product had increased by only £15,300. If those figures had any meaning at all, added Mr Booth, it surely was that artificial regulations applied to that particular industry had had tho effect of choking it, and driving the trado into the hands of foreigners. The illustration might bo multiplied by as many industries: as thoro were in tho country. liy all means let- there bo regulations that would ensure the factories being sanitary, and that women and children who wore, perhaps, unable to look after themselves, bo properly protected. But if ono set to work to coddle jfmilt men, even by tho establishing of artificial minimum wage rates, or by any other moans which tended to decrease the incentive to exertion, it must eventually demoralise them and reduce their industrial cflicicney.