The Daily News WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1933. SHORTER WORKING HOURS.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 April 1933, Page 6

The Daily News

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1933. SHORTER WORKING HOURS.

OFFICES: NEW PLYMOUTH, Currie Street. STRATFORD, Broadway. HAWERA, High Street.

The proposal made by the New Zealand Labour Party’s Conference at Auckland that the remedy of the unemployment problem will be found in shorter hours of work is one that has met with considerable discussion in other , countries. Twelve months ago the International Labour Conference at Geneva passed a resolution urging examination of the proposal, and in January of this year a Technical Preparatory Conference was called. Its task was to examine the suggestion in detail, and report its conclusions to the International Labour Congress at the end of May, and possibly to the World Economic Conference. The value of the Technical Conference to a study of the New Zealand problem was considerably lessened, however, by the exclusion of agriculture and shipping from its purview. As a matter of fact, the discussion by the Technical Conference did not get very far. It admitted the importance of bringing back the unemployed into normal employment. The discussion brought out the opposing views of those who believe that a general improvement in conditions will of itself cure unemployment, and of those who believe that when times return to normal unemployment will still remain a problem. The formei' class of economists maintain that the alleged overproduction is a myth, that in Asia and Africa there are millions of people who can absorb all that older civilisations can produce if their purchasing power is made effective. A feature which emerged strongly from the conference discussions was that the crux of the whole problem was the question of purchasing power. That immediately raises one of the great objections to shorter hours of labour. It does not seem possible by such action to increase]

the total volume of purchasing power. It would only divide up the existing wage bill among a larger number of people, thus reducing the average purchasing power of those '■in employment while increasing their number. The Technical Conference admitted there were serious difficulties, both technical and economic, in reducing hours of work. At the same time the problem of unemployment is becoming so alarming that the conference decided it would be worth considering detailed proposals to be put before it by the International Labour Office. The deliberations

at Geneva have been noted by large employers of labour in England. Some of them consider it is possible by better plant and technique to reduce hours of work without diminish- ■ ing output. Others can give in- , stances where this has been ’ done, but they admit that their success depends upon successful : salesmanship, a matter that de- . pends again upon circumstances outside the control of their own industries. They admit that shortened hours with output maintained will not immediately • help unemployment, but they suggest it _might make possible a further reduction of hours, with a corresponding reduction

in wages, and so the employment of more hands. This seems only improved technique leading to further rationing of employment, and scarcely likely to increase the total spending capacity of a community. Another point of view is that there is no short cut to full employment. It depends upon trade and profits. If they are good, employment is good, and vice versa. Such economists hold that the history of industry shows that this law of price is natural and inexor-

able, the only force strong enough to change its actions being a war. They urge research into the causes of the rise and fall of prices, and they consider this will lead to the conclusion that full employment can only be attained if wages are adjusted to the change in prices. History makes it clear that' neither State Banks, financiers nor any other form of control can change the operation of the law of price. That is where they disagree with the Labour Party in New Zealand, for it maintains that a State-controlled currency could do so. If the Labour politicians wish to convince the electorate that their reasoning is sound they will be obliged to show the premises upon which their arguments rest, and where more conservative students of industrial economics have misunderstood the teachings of history.