INDUSTRIAL REORGANISATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22546, 13 April 1935, Page 20

INDUSTRIAL REORGANISATION

PLANNING FOR EMPLOYMENT SCHEME DRAWN UP BY M.P.I (From Our Own Correspondent.) (By Air Mail.) LONDON, March 23. Two recent publications indicate that there are some thinkers in- this country who are not content with the day-to-day compromise of political parties, but who desire to plan for the future. Two years ago a group of supporters of the National Government in the House of Commons set themselves to devise a scheme to readjust the life of the nation to the changed conditions. In a publication these fourteen members of both Houses of Parliament have now issued they take the view that the absorbent powers of industry are being checked, partly by defective organisation within industry itself, and partly by defects in present Government policies relating to industry. In other words, employment is being restricted, or rendered insecure, by excessive competition for limited markets, by haphazard methods of recruitment and training, by taxation, by bad metho.ls of assessing social insurance contributions, and so on. If there is to be any deliberate planning for greater employment, these are the first defects which must be remedied.

The problem of " poverty in the midst of plenty," they maintain, is not a political problem calling for the application of Conservative. Liberal, or Social doctrines handed down by past generations. It is a new problem, to which traditional political philosophies are largely irrelevant. But in the deeper sense it is emphatically a political problem, in that the social life of the nation depends upon the manner in which goods are produced and distributed, upon the manner in which public services such as transport and housing are provided. Dealing with the various schools of thought, the memorandum states: — "The Industrial policy of the Socialist Party is based upon general economic theories, propounded in the nineteenth century, rather than upon any practical study of the economic problems of to-day. Moreover, its social programme, as now preached to the electors, has no logical connection with its industrial policy; and is, indeed, in flat contradiction Jo it. The elaborate, but. vague, Utopia which it depicts as the goal of that programme is not to be attained through its industrial policy, but through a quite independent series of ' social reforms,' financed, not out of the profits of State-conducted industries, but out of some pool of wealth which it assumes can still be tapped by taxation —presumably the non-existent incomes of the expropriated private capitalists." AN ENABLING BILL. The scheme suggested is merely, in effect, asking each' industry to put its house in tfrder. First of all, there is to. be an Industrial Reorganisation (Enabling) Bill. This Act would be administered by the President of the Board of Trade, assisted by an Industrial Advisory Committee. Each industry or section of industry (represented in a way still to be decided upon) would formulate a plan for its reorganisation, every section of the industry—employers and employed alike—being justly provided for in the plan. Thi s would be presented to the Minister, who would hand it to. his Advisory Committee, Before reporting on the plan, the committee would hear any grievances or criticism put forward by any section of the industry, and make necessary amendment*. The committee would further report to the Minister its recommendations for submitting the scheme to the vote of the industry concerned, and in particular the method by which the voting power of the industry should be calculated. Then the report of the committee would he printed and laid before Parliament. If the scheme were approved by a majority of not less than three-quarters of those engaged m the industry, the Minister would then embody it in an Order which would have to be approved by both Houses of Parliament before coming into operation. If, after trial, amendments to the scheme were necessary, they would be submitted as though such supplementary scheme were an original scheme. Supplementary to this Enabling Act would be an Employment and Education of Young Persons Bill, and a Bill to regulate the entry of young people into employment on leaving school and to provide for their further education. It is sought in.this memorandum to do no more than define a general approach to the problem of reconstruction which may commend itselt to the most various schools of thought, xne fourteen who have co-operated in this memorandum represent a wide range ot opinion.

NATIONAL AND IMPERIAL UNITY. A more philosophical treatise on the subject, and a book of profound interest, is Dr H. Martin Leake's "Unity. National and Imperial." The author was Director of Agriculture, United Provinces, and member of the United Provinces Legislative Council. Since his retirement from work in India he haa had advisory appointments in other parts of the Colonial Empire. He discusses two major problems of the day, British agriculture and colonial development, and he indicates how the best in capitalism and socialism may be woven to give a complete unity in national and imperial economy. British farming is passing more and more into the hands of small owners, whose resources as individuals are unequal to the task. Dr Leake believes that strong corporations should be brought into existence to take the place of the disappearing landlord. Capital for such corporations would be obtained in the 6ame manner as that in which industrial capital is obtained, and thus the present breach between the urban and rural outlooks would tend to be diminished. To attract capital, it would be necessary to prove increased production, economy in cost, higher realisation on sale, or some combination of these Another necessary attribute of Dr Leake's scheme is controlled profit. He maintains that with the knowledge that exploitation cannot occur, the fear that has underlain bo much of the recent social unrest will vanish, and the way be opened for a better recognition of mutual dependance than has been possible in the past. In the capital of controlled companies (writes Dr Leake) will lie that expanding field for gilt-edged investment which the growing volume of savings called forth by the movement demands. Ims is the antithesis of socialism as commonly preached, with its defeatist outlook, which regards the wage as the means or livelihood and would reduce all to that basis. It is socialism in its true, progressive form which would raise the mass of humanity to a higher plane; it places capital in the forefront, and envisages the day when each and all will derive part of their income from capital built up from savings. AN EXISTING SCHEME.

Something in the nature of the scheme suggested by Dr Leake is already m existence on a small scale. This is an organisation known as Copo, Limited (Cox's Orange Pippin Orchards). Ine company now owns eome thousand acres of freehold land specially selected as the best obtainable for growing Coxe Orange Pippins. For the sum of £3O the company offer to plant 100 Cox's Orange Pippin trees on freehold land, and to gather and market the produce for, the consideration of 10 per cent, of the net profits derived each year. Investors may take their profits either in cash or apples. So far some 150 workers have been absorbed into permanent and profitable employment, and anyone may invest his money in the scheme.

burdensome. " Waiting is well known as a church adherent, who possibly in theory knows a little about Christiaa charity. Unfortunately, "he is a dyspeptic and consequently suffers from windy spasms. He must have had an attack of flatulence when he wrote his letter, for it is reeking with hot air. No doubt he has already regretted his indiscretion. It would be a graceful act on his part if he were now to send a letter of apologv to the county chairman, who is waiting."—l am. etc., Watching.