The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1947 WORKERS AND MANAGEMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, 22 January 1947, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1947 WORKERS AND MANAGEMENT

QX the morning that Lord Nuffield, the cycle repairer who became a world leader in the motor industry, was landing in New Zealand Sir Stafford Cripps was defending his thesis that the working classes were not yet fit to take over the management of industry. Both Sir Stafford Cripps and his critics are talking off the subject. There has never been a time when any class, as a class, has been capable of taking over the responsibilities of management. Ability to carry out executive work is not the peculiar quality of any class—it is something that is developed in some individuals and not in others. There has never been justification for a easte of managers, and there never will be.

Executive ability is widespread: it is found in all stratas of society, social and financial. When men are fortunate in their birth, when to use Arnold Bennett’s phrase, “they have been lucky enough to be born in the right bedroom,” they are given opportunity to develop their talents as executives. They are given the respect and.prestige that a manager needs if his task is to be a com paratively easy one; they are early entrusted with responsibilities and these responsibilities are graded up so that the individual is not burdened beyond his years. The fortunate ones have more opportunites, but taken as a class they arc not able to clam that they have more innate ability for management of business. While the working class—what a phrase!—has no more administrative ability than has any other “class,’’ it has proved itself to be capable of producing from within its ranks men of outstanding executive business ability. Sr Thomas Lipton started as a parcels boy and ended up as the chief of Lipton’s Limited, the first of the chain stores of grocers, with tea plantations of its own in the Ear East. Lord Leverhulni was a travelling salesmln after he was 30 years of age, but rose to be the finest executive in the soap manufacturing industry. Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish emigrant boy who went to America to seek a livelihood, became the head of the American steel industry. Lord Northcliffle, a working reporter, saw his opportunity in the Islington Gazette and started on an executive career which ended in his becoming the chief manager of the daily newspaper with the largest circulation of any in the world. To-day Lord Nuffield is probably not only one of the. world’s outstanding public benefactors, but he is also one of the world’s outstanding business managers. The sons of men in the high income groups do not all develop managerial ability. Only a percentage of them have executive ability that is noticeable. That is why the caste system is so objectionable and in the end defeats itself. To elevate the people in the lower income groups into a caste with assumed higher qualifications than anyone else would be ridiculous. All those who now work for wages arc not suitable for, nor are they willing to undertake, the responsibilities of management. It is only a percentage of them that are eligible for sueh careers, but in saying this it is no more than facing facts. Whether the percentage is higher or lower in any income or social group cannot be proved because the data on which sueh proof would have to rest has never been collected. A community that is so arranged that it can make use of ability wherever it is found is the one that will make the most progress. The competitive system has many defects, but one of its chief merits lies in the field it offers for the development of managerial abilities. The Socialist regime offers less opportunities and dampens down endeavour to become managers. It tends to turn men into Icaners relying upon the Government for their salvation and seeking protection from the risks that are incidental to life. It follows inevitably that in sueh an atmosphere those with executive ability seek to preserve their positions for their children, and a caste system develops. This is actually what has happened in Russia and to some considerable degree this occurred in Germany before the first World War. It was then the custom for a manager’s contract of employment to provide that the manager’s son should succeed him. Democracy envisages every man as a new creation. Socialism tends to caste dominance. That is why Socialism and class consciousness run hand in hand, and why Socialism and true democracy never can work in double harness. THE WANGANELLA DISASTER THE stranding of the m.v. Wanganella on Barrett’s Reef at the entranee to the Wellington Harbour shortly before midnight on Sunday fortunately occurred in fine weather. Rescue work was, consequently, carried out successfully without loss of life or limb. Had the weather been rough, however, the situation which would have developed might have been very dangerous indeed, although it is still possible to hope that salvage will be successfully accomplished. ' The large number of entrants to the Wellington Harbour during the year and the comparative narrowness of the entranee indicates that seamanship on the New Zealand coasts is of a high order. This much is comforting in that the chances of a mishap are very small. With radar aid the technical efficiency of navigation in ail weathers has been greatly improved anti the prospect is that the percentage of maritime disasters will he greatly reduced in the future. The Wanganella disaster will be the subject of a maritime enquiry, whose proceedings will be watched with interest, particularly in respect to the enquiries concerning the measure of assistance in navigation received by the vessel at the time of her attempted entry into port.