Page 7 Advertisements Column 3

Colonist, Volume LXII, Issue 15259, 22 December 1919, Page 7

Mr Alfred.Siefert, a prominent flaxmiller, who has been absent in America mirina; tho past live months, has just returned to ".Palmerstqn .North, in the course pi conversation, ho said that vhat most impressed him in America was the almost universal use made of inbonr-saving machinery. ' He points out that in' this respect the methods adopted in this Dominion are extremely primitive. As an instance, he mentioned the fact that v,-hen coming up the Manawatu line by train lie noticed a number of men filling railway trucks with gravel. In. the States all that work was accomplished in quick time by the a4d of a portable steam shovel, which could be "moved from place to place along the railway lines. One reason why'wages were so high in America was the fact'that .material was handled more cheaply and cost less. There was a ,fiood deal of talk a'bdut the shortage of labour in New Zealand, but this would be minimised and very much more work would be better and more quickly done if the Public Works Department and the local bodies would only adopt American methods in this respect. . ,