THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22101, 3 November 1933, Page 3

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES By J. T. Paul. The whole trend of English education would have to be reversed if the idea of dictatorship were to prove triumphant in this country. For the avowed aim of • our education system is the production of free citizens, able, and willing to shoulder the responsibilities of government. ... Dictatorship and free speech cannot co-exist. The dictator depends not on discussion but on concussion. This last fact is'-one that teachers should bear - in mind. No dictator tolerates in the schools a teacher of independent views.—The Schoolmaster. BUTCHERS’ DISPUTE. . No settlement was reached in the dispute between the Canterbury Butchei-s’ Industrial Union of Employers and the Christchurch Operative Butchers’ Union of Workers at a Conciliation Council sitting this week. Mr S. Ritchie, the conciliation commissioner, presided. The main points of difference were, as at previous sittings, the conditions relating to the employment of youths, and the closing hours. After some discussion, the employers submitted one alteration, which the employees refused to accept. , DULLER BY-ELECTION. It was generally expected that, Mr P. C. Wehb, the official Labour candidate for the Buffer seat, would have had a very easy task in winning it. There are, however, some indications of dissatisfaction with his selection by the National Executive as Labour candidate. Reports have been circulated that Mr Holland had expressed a personal wish that Mr Webb should follow him in representing the constituency, but, as it has been coupled with the further statement that Mr Webb had given to the party, an undertaking that he would contest any seat at any time, it is clear that the position might easily have been complicated either by Mr Webb’s return for some other seat or by a pledge to contest some other seat. The miners are reported to be dissatisfid with the selection, and, further, that if the National Council of the New Zealand Labour Party will not withdraw Mr Webb they will nominate a candidate against him. Mr Webb’s offence is reported to consist in his business representation of the co-operative miners by disposing of the coal. won by them sometimes when other miners were involved in strikes or industrial disputes. It is, represented that the action or cooperative miners has resulted in hundreds of others losing their employment, but it has not been made clear how this has occurred. The demand for coal had to be satisfied, and a certain number of miners were necessary to satisfy it. ilic clash is evidently between the two.classes of working miners, and Mr Webb has apparently been associated with what the miners’ unions consider the wrong class. It is, therefore, urged that Mr Webb has forfeited his claim to the support ot miners by his activities in connection with co-operative mining. The immediate developments will be followed with keen interest. ALLEGATIONS OF SWEATING. The statement made in the House of Representatives that sweating practices were creeping into garment factor ics m Wellington has been brought under the notice of the president of the AJ ellington Manufacturers’ Association. Mr Abel states that members of the association would welcome an investigation into the conditions under which factories are run and would grant every facility to the officers of whatever department of the Government might be set the task of making such an investigation. It would be unfair, said Mr Abel, to ask any of those making complaints to name any particular factory, for even if such cases, and cases where the labour laws! are not being observed, were mentioned, it would be only, by an investigation by Government officials that the facts would be brought out. Such an investigation, Mr Abe] suggested, should aim at ascertaining what are the hours worked by individuals in such *a factory and whether the wages paid are in conformity with the respective minimum rates under the various awards according to years of service. «Such information could be easily secured by Government officials, who have the right of investigating the wages books and of interrogating individual workers, said Mr Abel. FARM LABOUR SHORTAGE. It is alleged that farmers in the Auckland province are experiencing a remarkable shortage of labour. “ Three advertisements for a youth to commence work on a farm at £l a week and keep, which normally would produce a shoal of re* plies, elicited one solitary application, said Mr W. B. Souter, Auckland manager of the Bay of Plenty Development Company, to a representative of the New Zealand Herald. A recent visit to other parts of the North Island had shown that the difficulty of securing farm hands was general. At Te Kauwhata a tanner was obliged to milk 60 cows unaided, owing to the impossibility of getting labour. “It seems young men prefer to spend their time on relief works rather than take a position on a farm,” he added. In some instances farmers had resorted to going to relief camps in an effort to get men, but even then they were seldom successful. Neither the Unemployment Bureau nor the Boys’ Employment Committee was able to get sufficient applicants

for farm work; in fact, there were long lists of farmers seeking youths to go to farms. • A similar state of affairs was outlined by Mr J. Noakes, of Papakura. After three advertisements had been fruitless, he was fortunate to obtain a suitable youth by replying to an advertisement by him. This young man received 40 replies to an advertisement seeking a position on a farm. “ It is difficult to understand this apparent aversion to country life, especially on farms reasonably close to the towns and cities, and when the men have Saturdays and Sundays oft, Mr Noakes added. He concurred with Mr Souter’s opinion that the serious shortage of farm labour was directly due to the present unemployment relief policy. WOMEN WORKERS. The whole question of women _ in industry is attracting renewed attention and many old and some new arguments are being used. Herr Hitler believes that women should leave the wage and salaried occupations to men and find a haven in a home of their own. This view has found favour in many quarters and has met with equally strong opposition. Then the question of married women working outside the home has merited attention, and a lT ain arises divergent opinions. inis plmse of the problem engaged the attention of the Auckland City Council at its last meeting, the following motion on notice being moved:—“That in order to spread employment in these days stress, it shall be the policy of the Auckland City Council not to give employment to any woman whose husband is in permanent employment, except with the consent of the council.” With the exception of the mover’s speech, which contained reasons for the motion, no other speech, for or against, was made, the seconder making it' barely formal and the other councillors merely recording their votes. The motion was carried by 12 votes to 7. Havintr thus’ adopted the principle (says “Industrial Tramp” in the Auckland Star) nothing remains now but for the council to set its house in order. SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS. Taking as his subject “ Must Science Ruin Economic Progress? ” Sir Josiah Stamp addressed the British Association. “ It is being commonly stated,” he said, “ that scientific changes are coming so thick and fast, or are so radical in their nature and implications, that the other factors of social life —the intangibles of credit, the improvements in political and international organisations and ideas — are unequal to the task of absorbing and accommodating them, or else they present new problems. If changes in social forms and human nature or behaviour cannot possibly be made rapidly enough for the task, then in that sense science may ‘ ruin ’ economic progress, and the world might be better served in the end • if scientific innovation were retarded to the maximum rate of social and economic change. Where the innovation is absorbed most easily for offensive purposes in a military or naval sense, it may create rivalries and changes of balance of power inimical to economic security,- and compel new economic sacrifices outweighing the direct economic advantages of peaceful uses. It is open to question whether the innovation of aircx;aft has ;

yet become on net balance economic progress.” “It used to be said of British machinery,” continued Sir Josiah Stamp, “ that it was made good enough to last for ever, and long after it became oldfashioned, whereas American machines were made to be worn out much earlier, and were thus cheaper, and could be immediately replaced by other machines containing the latest devices. Suppose the giant Cunarder attracts a profitable contingent for two years only, when a lucky invention in a new and rival vessel attracts all her passengers at a slightly lower fare. Here is progress in one typical sense, but the small net advantage to be secured by individuals as freelance consumers may be dearly purchased by large dislocations or loss of capital reacting even upon those same individuals as producers. Economic life must pay a heavy price, in this generation, for the ultimate gains of science, unless all classes become economically and socially minded, and there are large infusions of social direction and internationalism, carefully introduced. _ This does not mean government by scientific technique, technocracy, or any other transferred technique. For human wills in the aggregate are behind distribution and consumption, and they can never be regulated by the principles which are so potent in mathematics, chemistry, physics, or even biology.”