FORTY-HOUR WEEK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 85, 9 April 1936, Page 8

FORTY-HOUR WEEK

CONFLICT OF OPINION EMPLOYERS ARE NERVOUS BUT PRINCIPAL SEEMS SOUND readjustment of social THOUGHT A ppliva lion of the 40-hour week, coincident with an increase in salaries and wages, is the chief topic of the city. .It even overshadows die reformation of the Reserve Bank, the re-drift of the railways to political control and the expectation of guaianteed prices for farm produce. Theoretically, public opinion seems to favour the better living conditions whi*ch greater and properly-controlled leisure should develop. Some remember the vision of Henry Ford, but, there is still a marked degree of nervousness abroad as to just what, the 40-hour week will mean. Such nervousness is minimised in some degree by 'Ministerial assurances that nothing drastic to industry is contemplated, and that whatever field for the 40-hour week is open will first be thoroughly explored by the Arbitration Court. “It must mean an increase in rhe cost of living,” the manager of a prominent fi m in the city stated yesterdav. “If costs of production rise, those costs are passed on to the consumer. If a boot factory, for instance, is turning out a certain number of boots and is enabled to sell them at a certain price to the public, that price must be affected if the hours of work are lessened. Less production will decrease turnover, and if production is to be maintained at its origreal rate in face of a 40-hour week, then extra hands must be employed. That means increased expenditure and up go ihe “ A 40-hour week will not have a serious effect on retail trading,” a city retailer stated. “The selling of goods to the public is largely a matter of everyday routine. Shops open at a certain hour and close at a certain hour. In between times the volume of selling can be maintained at much the same rate. It is purely a matter of educating the public to do their shopping within those given 40 hours. 1. can see the 40-hour week being applied to retail business quite easily.” The viewpoint of local bodies was very definite that the 40 hour week would mean having to find more in the wav of rates. “I notice that a member of the Wanganui City Council assesses the amount the council will have to find at £3OOO to £4000.” said the chairman nf a nearby lo'cal body. “-In our case, if the rate of wages was to be 15s a day, an amount free'y suggested as likely to be fixed, it will mean a twenty-five per cent, increase. That and the 40-hour week is going to take some drastic legislating to get over, when eveiv ratepaver is demanding reduction in rates. We will be forced to make the leeway up somewhere. It may be taken for granted that the privileges workers may enjoy now will be curtailed. Sick pay is granted in nearly every ca.se where it is appbed for. If a local body is forced into meeting 25 per cent, increases in wages it is •certain that such a privilege as that will be seriously looked at before it. is granted in the future. Employees, too, in some ins-tances, have houses at fairly low rentals. Those rentals may have to go up to their full value if a local body is seeking wavs and meauE to reduce rates and. at the same lime, faces an increase to its expenditure on account of wages.” It was reported in one quarter, purely unofficially, that some seven to eight extra tramway men would have to be employed to maintain the present system if a 40-hour week was enforced. The position might he got over in some degree by curtailment of the service. As one businessman said. “If the people ■want a 40-hour week they must not quibble if some sacrifice has to l>e made, to get it.’ ’ “This is the day of the working man,” said a man employed on a delivery van, carrying ar. important household commodity, when asked for his opinion. “The 40-hour week can be applied if people honestly want to apply it. It will mean wider distribution of work—less sport for some and more sport for others. Those who have been able to enjoy sport while others worked long hours will have to amend their ways aud work longer hours to meet the position.’’ •‘A 40-hour week on a fa m is ridiculous,” stated a member of the Farmers’ Union. “It is impossible, and that's all there is to say about it.” “A milk farmer will find it hard to apply the 40-hour week,” said a dairy farmer, “but he’ll do it if le has to probably by lotting his men off in the middle of the day. Some farmers do not treat their men rightly; others do. If the scheme means a levelling up it will do good. Anyhow, it is the farmers’ privilege to kick against anything suggested in ihe way of reform. 1 think the 40-hour week will r-ome to stay. It will be a matter largely of educating the public.” “Are you asking me as a sportsman or as an employer of labour?” was the

counter query the reporter was given when he put the question to another •city resident, a prominent figure in the sporting life of Wanganui. “'Both,” was the reply. “ As a sportsman, 1 would say it is an excellent thing. It will mean increased indulgence in athletic activity, especially out of doors and. consequently, a healthier race. It will mean a two-day week-end, and the whole of Saturday will be invaluable to sporting people. But, a.s an employer of [labour, I can realise the d : fficulties to be got over. It seems to me that if the whole of New Zealand was prepared to adopt the 40-hour week it could do it, but it would mean drastic readjustment of thought regarding life generally. If we conform to that change it may mean looking upon Saturday as a day of rest entirely—no tiams, no trains, none of the usual .ervi’ces we I definitely look for now, perhaps no newspapers. 1 am putting it in the extreme, perhaps, but if we- want less work, and the people, as » whole, are determined on that score, then we may have to do with less of the. fruits work produces.” A somewhat similar view was taken by an elderly man.' “I a n getting to the agf* when hours of work are not of much concern,” he said, “but I can

see a beginning of a new eia. the benefits of which will be ava lable io the school children of to-day. It will then be a problem for social adju'-tmeut to meet the demand®, of a nation with thousands seeking to make jife happier with more leisure on their hands. It is easv to say be happy and rest, but rest, in the end, can become a strain. It is for us to look at the problem from all angles. I agree with it in nrinciple, but in its initial stages it must increase the •cost of living mt'l such time as the nation, as a whole, falls into line. Somebody is going to make sacrifices to-day for those who follow after.”