MACHINE AND MAN

Taranaki Daily News, 9 May 1930, Page 15

MACHINE AND MAN

BANKING AND FARMING.

FACTOR IN UNEMPLOYMENT.

Mechanical operations in banks likely to reduce clerical labour are dealt with in the latest issue of The Banker, organ of the New Zealand Bank Officers’ Guild. It is noted that when the adding machine was introduced it was stoutly resisted by many people, who foretold the decline in the ability to add “long tote,” which was considered the prerogative of every efficient bank clerk. But the method of computation is of little interest unices when com-; pared with the speed and accuracy with which results arc achieved by mechanical means. The Banker then refers to the latest and perhaps greatest change taking place in banking methods of routine by use of the bookkeeping machine. This had been adopted by American banks for some time, and some of the leading English banks are using it with equal success. ■ ■ .' ■ “The laborious posting of cheques by hand into a ledger, becomes a thing of the past, while the daily balancing of the ledgers:—a comparatively simple matter once the . operation of the machine is mastered—obviates the Monday night drudgery of hunting for ledger differences, for the Monday balancing is pierely a part of the daily routine.

“Naturally .this. : revolutionary method of’ posting ledgers must have a farreaching effect upon staffing methods,’’ states the. guild organ, “for it is found that the operation of the machines ean be performed .more speedily by girls, who, it is proved, are better temperamentally fitted, for work whieh is. purely mechanical. The male ledgerkeeper will act more in. a supervisory, capacity, checking tile. vouchers for their regularity, and referring the .oubtful ones • to the manager. This, of course, open’snp a big question, which must be* faced sooner or later, when . the time comes, for its adoption by the banks,.established in New Zealand—as assuredly nmst be.the ease before long. In the meantime. thinking men would do well . to ponder over the new problem. which the age of. invention lias, set bankers to grapple with.’,’, 'Xiie well-known. writer under the name of ■•Economist,” whose articles ar? a feature of the New Zealand Dairy Exporter, deals with replacement of labour by machines as a factor in the unemployment situation in New Zealand. In criticising the report of the Unemployment Committee, “Economist” remarks: “A further cause of industrial dislocation in New Zealand at the moment is the displacement of men by machinery. When a skilled worker, or a machine tender, is displaced by improved machinery, it is possible for him to get a job as an unskilled mam This is not the real solution of the problem, because it involves a measure of industrial degradation in the literal sense, but it does find a job. When,, however, unskilled men are put ■ out of employment by the introduction of machinery and improved methods, there is ho lower economic grade for them to fall' back upon, and they must remain idle until the expansion of demand consequent upon the economies introduced again absorbs them into employment. As it happens, unskilled men are being displaced in New Zealand in three directions. There is first the conversion of ships from steam to oil, dispensing with the work of many stokers and firemen. There is also the introduction of handling and excavating machinery in the constructional industries, abolishing the job of many navvies, while handling machines are also interfering with the employment of waterside workers.

“To some extent these men are the architects of their own misfortunes, since if they did not persistently restrict output there would be less inducement to supersede them, but as it is many are out of work, and will remain unemployed until there is an expansion in the demand for constructional work consequent upon the cheapening introduced by the new methods. This depends on the elasticity of the community demand for sueh work, and there is reason to fear that the rate of absorption may be a elow process. Finally, the new methode of grass farming in the Dominion are dispensing with the plough and the horse, and substituting the tractor and harrow. This means a restriction in the field ofemployment for'farm labour. The present effect of improvement on the’ position of the unskilled worker, coming as it does when other' factors • are’ unfavourable, is thus an unfortunate one, and something must be. done as a palli- . ative to tide these men over the worst part. "It is here that the report of the committee represents an advance on our present methods by dealing with the situation.”