WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 184, 6 August 1931, Page 5

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

ADVICE TO RAILWAYMEN APPLICABLE TO ALL “Those homely proverbs, ‘Waste not, want not,’ amf ‘Wilful waste makes woeful want,’ demand everybody’s bes! attention in these days of stress. Stoppage of waste makes for security of employment and family welfare,” says the personal message of the General Manager of the New Zealand Railway-.-in the Department’s magazine. “When you think of waste, think in terms of the multiplication table. An average waste of only a penny a day for each employee of the railways would amount to £22,000 a year. A Real Enemy “ Waste is always a hindrance to individual and national welfare, but under present conditions it is a deadly enemy against which the most determined war must be waged. Waste does no one any good and givcs.no worths person any pleasure. Stopping waste has the same effect as getting more business, and it has the advantage that it costs nothing except thought and care, and can be practised successfully at times when new business is hard to get and possibly expensive to handle. In this personal message to each member of the railway staff I desire to enlist the interest and help of each individual among our 17,500 members in a campaign for the elimination of waste and for studied economy in the use of all kinds of stores and supplies. It should be obvious to all that the instinct of self-preservation must command their active support of this principle. Waste and Wages “Launched, as we are, on a much more real business basis than ever before, self-interest and self-help are very definitely involved for all in a drive for waste-elimination within the Department. Alore than ever before will we be judged by results, and as departmental earnings have to pay for the cost of materials and supplies wasted as well as (he cost of materials and supplies us n d, before salaries or wages can he met or property apportioned. the ultimate effect of waste in all its forms on rates of remuneration for personal services is a very vital factor. If the cost of careless wastein an individual case automatically reduced wages by the amount, wasted, this truth would become impressively clear. “A leaking tap, dripping at the rate of a pint a minute, wastes 5000 gallons in a four-weekly period, or 65,000 - gallons in a year. Effort to turn off a tap costs nothing, and if a tap is defective t costs nothing to report the matter. If there is an average of only one such leaking tap at each of 300 stations, workshops, goods sheds, or other railway centres, then the waste from this cause alone is 19,500,000 gallons. Much water in Now Zealand is sold at Is per 1000 gallons (in some places it costs more), so that, on this basis ami at the rate mentioned, leakage of water throughout the system may cause water waste to the value of £lOOO per annum. But 300 penny! washers to stop such waste cost only Light and Heating “The cost of electricitv used in a 100-watt light in Wellington is onethird of a pennv per hour. One of the large flood-lights in shunting yards costs -H per hour. A one-kilowatt electric heater, or a six-element gas heater, costs from 2d to 3d per hour. A gas ring costs 2MI per hour. “The above are approximate costs, and I quote them to show the money value, in relation to time, of some of those things which are liable to misuse through want of care pr neglect to check. The total number of electric bulbs and gas heating and lighting elements employed throughout Now Zealand railways approximates 25.000. An average of one hour’s waste per day for each of them, or the cutting down of their use by one hour per flay, would mean, at the low average of Ml per hour. 6s 3d for each per year, or a Dominion total for the Department of £15.000 in the whole hill of costs. This excludes the additional cost for replacement of bulbs because of unnecessary use. Saving Stores “During the year ended March •>!. 1931, the Department spent the following sums:— £ On general stores 1,636,664 On coal and coke 669,786 On stationery 38,7811 Total £2,345,239 “This is equivalent to 48 per cent, of the total wages bill. In the use and conservation of stores of all kinds watchfulness and initiative should make a substantial decrease in the total cost. Even a 1-per-cent, saving on the use of suppliers means £23,000 per annum. “In addition to stopping waste of stores and supplies, every wage-earner can do something appreciable towards economy in preventing breakages, pil forage, and the damage to goods. Finally, in making this appeal, I would point out, that it is not a matter of pleasing the management that comes into question—every employee is a manager within the province of his own job—but that it is a matter of vital personal moment to each at this critical stage in the Department’s development. The less the waste the stronger becomes the financial position of the railways and the better become the prospects of employees.”