FORTY-HOUR WEEK

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20426, 17 February 1938, Page 6

FORTY-HOUR WEEK

WAKING IT SUCCEED MAXUFACTURERS’ VIEWPOINT In Now Zealand the 40-hour week has '" nin t mdu red. Indit 1 s designed to bring - benefits, writes Mr C. M. Bowden. a member of llie Bureau of Industry. It can, and should, and if it i> worth having it is surely worth working for. If as a result it brings more people into employment, and so makes more wage-earners and consumers. then manufacturers and retailers should benefit from greater turnover, and so should each individual worker share in Hie general prosperity, and withal have more leisure to enjoy life. But I lie whole conception breaks down if 1 lie goods of other countries are purchased and consumed in preference to goods Hi it i*imid be produced in New Zealand. Costs of Manufacture If higher wages are paid here than in England or Germany or Japan, and shorter hours worked, it is almost inevitable that costs of manufacture will bo higher in New Zealand than in those countries, and even after making allowance for duty and other charges those countries may be able to undersell us in some lines of manufacture; but if everyone purchased the foreign goods because of some trifling saving in price, how could our factories carry on? And if they cannot carry on, of course they cannot pay wages. So if workers want to retain the privileges of the 40-hour week they can do so only by buying New Zealandmade goods. If shopkeepers want prosperous conditions they must help to keep our own people employed, and their shops should not only contain goods made in New Zealand, but the people behind the counter should sell them in preference to pushing foreign goods. The public, too, has a duty to perform —let every woman remember that her husband or sons and daughters, and her friends, are wageearners; and if she wants to keep them in employment shj can help by buying goods made in New Zealand, and. similarly, each man can protect his own job and those of his friends. Manufacturers must see to it that they maintain efficiency, so that their goods may be produced at as low cost as is possible, and. above all. maintain quality and style so that their goods may lie competitive and earn the goodwill of the buying public. There must be co-operation between workers and management, to their mutual interest and welfare. Only by producing the maximum of which the plant is capable can overhead costs be reduced and the higher direct costs be offset, and any worker who does not give full production for the wages ne receives is rendering a dis-service to his fellow-workers. Government’s Part There ts one more quarter from which co-operation should come, and that is from the Government. Conditions have been created in New Zealand more favourable to our workers than the conditions in other countries. Unless Government protects New Zealand. by tariffs and trade acreenents. from a flood of imports from countries where wages and other production costs are lower, the benefits of Its policy will be given in the long run to the workers of those other countries and not. to our New Zealand workmen. What is the use of arguing at this stage about the merits of the 40-hour week? It ts here, and will probably extend in operation. Do we want it to be a success? If so. we can all help by purchasing goods made by our own workmen and women in our factories. The quality is right in most ■•uses, and despite advancing costs the prices can he kept right if a sufficient output is assured. It seems to me that manufacturers and workers, the Government, and above all the retailors and the public, should co-operate lor ttie desired result.