REDUCED WORKING HOURS

Chronicle (Levin), 14 June 1947, Page 4

REDUCED WORKING HOURS

Press Association

CAUSE OF MANY TROUBLES

By . Telegraph-

WELLINGTON, June 12. "It is idl'e to think that the mere raising of wages and the creation of more and more money will cure tlie ills and bring improvemcnt to jieople caught in the aftermath of the greatest war in history, ' ' said Mr. P. L. Porter, general liTknager of.the Banlc of New Zeaiand, at the annual smoke concert of the New Zeaiand Bante Officers' Guild tonight. Mi*. Porter continued with the simple parallel of the shipwrecked maii reaehing- a desert islaud by clinging- to a floating chest. If he had a clioiee he would pray that on opening the box it would not be full of useless bank notes, rather that it would contain a spade, an axe and some seeds, That was the position of the world today, and its troubles in matters of housing- shortage, electricity and goods would be sooner cured by 'the taking off of our coats and a grealer dctermination to work than by working less and expecting money to do the job inslead. "There is only one thing we can irre\'Ocably waste," said Mr. Porter, "and that is tfme. A certain minimuni of the need to work is neeessary to niaintain our living eonditions/ and it is a mere truism to say that in New Zeaiand, as the hours worked by men have been reduced, so have the' laboiirs of our women been increased. All marri'ed men know the result as I know it, and I do not think this result is one of whicli we, as men, should be proud. ''