WANT TO ADOPT NEW OUTLOOK IN INDUSTRY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18012, 24 November 1926, Page 5

WANT TO ADOPT NEW OUTLOOK IN INDUSTRY.

BRITISH EMPLOYERS AND MEN COULD LEARN FROM AMERICA. MR J. J, STAPLES TELLS OF OVERSEA EXPERIENCES “The coal strike has paralysed almost every industry in England. In the cotton-spinning and weaving districts, the mills are working perhaps one week in two. Hundreds of thousands are idle and are existing on the dole,” said Mr J. J. Staples, of the “Star” and “Lyttelton Times” advertising staff, who returned to-day from a visit to America and England. He added that the dole, of course, was not a charity, as was sometimes thought. “The workers are receiving

payments from an insurance fund to which they contributed weekly from their wages,” he said. “Their ' contributions are greatly overdrawn, and the dole for a long time past has been a State subsidy until such time as the workers can pay back their advances.” Unfortunately many seemed to be quite content

with the dole, and seemed to have no very keen desire to return to work. “That is not, true, however, of the whole of the workers,” added Mr Staples. “The better class of men and women, with sturdy independence, are looking for a chance to earn their wages again.” He said that the dole scheme was full of anomalies. “I know of a case where a girl, the daughter of wealthy middle-class folks, who was earning 5s a week before the strike, is nftw drawing 15s a week unemployment insurance.” The Coal Strike. “Both sides to blame,” said the speaker, regarding the coal strike. “Many mine owners seem inclined to think of their employees as serfs, without the right to live decently. They resent the men having enough brains to think for themselves. I heard, too, that many mines are so antiquated in the .method of operation that it is unprofitable to work them unless the miners accept a starvation wage. On the other hand, ui some mines, I heard that the men can earn enough in three days to keep them a week, and, ignorantly believing that any work done in the remaining three days would be wholly for ‘the master.’ they idled the rest of the week away.” It seemed to him that masters and men both needed a change of vision, so as to get some idea of co-operation for mutual benefit, but workers talked to couldn’t see the masters' side, and the masters refused to,! see the men’s side of the case. The men couldn’t see that the more heartily they worked, the better for themselves, nor could the owners see that satisfied men would produce more and make more profit. What was wanted was a sweet spirit of comf>romise, and the education of the workers to other beliefs than those expounded by Mr A. J. Cook. “Meanwhile, industry languishes, in marked contrast to the activity of America,”' said Mr Stapl.es, “where employers pay high wages, spend huge sums on workers’ welfare institutions, and the men are encouraged to work speedily. There is need for a change of outlook in Britain's industrial world, and, judging by the increasing number of big plants with provision for the health and comfort of workers, there is a gradual awakening.” Dairy Control. “Whilst I was in London,” continued Mr .Staples, “there was growing a very strong resentment against the fixing of prices for New Zealand dairy produce by the Dairy Control Board, and it seemed that there was coming a trial of strength between the Dominion’s methods and the millions sterling at the command of Tooley Street. New Zealand butter and cheese were well spoken of in the Midlands. One dealer in Ashton-under-Tyne said that ours was the best cheese he sold, whilst a grocer at Hawley said that he never had trouble with New Zealand butter, lie was always glad to have it for his customers. Better show-cards would help the retailer.” Mr Staples said that New Zealand lamb was popular, but he felt quite sure that some of the “Canterbury lamb” showing in some of the shops never even saw New Zealand. There was substitution going on.

Rural England. England’s countryside was one long, winding delight- The freshness of the fields and the splendid spreading trees combined with the frequent hedges and hedge-rows to make a wonderfully pretty and restful picture. Roads were splendid, although many country roads were little wider than lanes. Traffic control was generally good, and in London this was perhaps one of the most remarkable features of the great metropolis. “On all hands I heard New Zealand well spoken of, and, mixing with people who were in direct contact with overseas soldiers in London, I heard on all hands that. New Zealand's men were the finest and most gentlemanly of all. The New Zealand football teams would do more to advertise New Zealand if they travelled and played as New Zealanders rather than All Blacks., In a large town in Staffordshire a well-edu-cated business man was still of opinion that the All Blacks team was composed of black men.” The English watering places were superior to the American, especially under the headings of cleanliness and behaviour. Despite the strike, despite the unemployment, the seaside resorts and theatres seemed always busy, and the people had lots of money to spend. In Canada, Mr Staples met Miss Murphy, of Edmonton, who was conducting the Women’s Welfare .section of the Agricultural Department. She conducts a circulating library, issues patterns, advice on housekeeping, and so on, and everything that tends to make farm women’s lives happier. In the High Commissioner’s Office, Sir James Parr has swept out the “museum” on the ground floor, and at the time of Mr Staples’s visit, this large space was being converted into a reading room, where New Zealanders would have ample room to study the New Zealand newspapers, which hitherto had been filed in a very small roo*-n off the general offices.