THE GOVERNMENT OF INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 May 1925, Page 11

THE GOVERNMENT OF INDUSTRY.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —May I write a few words with reference to this fad of the workers taking over government of industry? It strikes one as almost laughable, particularly as its advocates all seem so deadly serious over it. Suppose we draw a parallel or two. How would it be if the carpenter undertook to draw one’s teeth, or a plumber to tailor friend Communist’s Sunday suit? It" is no less ridiculous to expect a manual worker, unless he is a very unusual exception, to be fitted to undertake the intricate and highly Specialised work of administering State or industry. You quoted an instance of the utter failure of a practical experiment of this sort in the building trade in the Old Country. And it has almost invariably been demonstrated that, in the very initial step of the business of administration, Labour has a very great deal to learn with regard to expenditure and the balancing of funds and outlay. We know how rigid trades unionists are with regard to the different crafts, so that the plumber dare not touch a ..piece of carpentering, nor the bricklayer lay a finger on the drainage system. Why, then, should any manual worker assume himself eligible for the administrative side of the business? If a man has outstanding ability in any direction, no one can keep him from reaching the level he is destined for, provided he uses his talent: and a man who has risen through the ranks of manual work and reached the point where he is successful in organising an industry, or a branch of it, is one of the very finest products of industrial life. But “many are called, and few are chosen.” —I am, etc., AD ASTRA. Oakura, May 5.