PACE IN FACTORIES

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 905, 26 August 1910, Page 5

PACE IN FACTORIES

THE N.Z. WORKER CRITICISED; . "SLOWING DOWN." REPLY: "ABSOLUTE SLAVERY.'^ (By Telegraph,—Special Correspondent) Auckland, August 25.Tho statements made by Mr. G. A, Coles, boot manufacturer, at the annual meeting of the Auckland Employers' Association on Tuesday, as to an "obvious slowing-down" on tho part of tho New Zealand workers, are denied by the local representatives of Labour. Mr, Coles, on tho other hand, adheres to his allegation, and in tho course of a conversation with a reporter he amplified his remarks.

"As far as tho New Zealand worker is concerned," said Mr. Coles, "I do not. think men can be found anywhero to' boat him. Ho can hold his own with, the worker of any- other country, and' this is skoirn by. the fact that if ho goea to Australia or America, ho becomes tho equal of the workers in thoso countries in a very short time. Ho does much more work there than in New Zealand, but tho peculiar thing is that when ha returns to this ■ country ho slows downagain to his former pace."

To what do you ascribe this? "It is difficult to arrive at tho cause of it. If I was to say that the unions, or tho Socialistic elemeat in the is responsible for it,- I .might not .be correct. It is probably due ■to natural causes. The good times that we have had, tho great demand for labour, and the consequent easy conditions of things generally, may have brought U about. The men, so far as my firm is concerned, are given every encouragement and every inducement to work equal to what is dono in Australia, and all tho competent men' in our factory, with tho exception'of two, are being paid more than the minimum wage. "We can pfoduco anything in boots;** continued Mr. Coles,-' "that will compete in msrit with what is made in Aus-' tralia, but they beat us in the output Tho same remarks apply to leather. Tho Australian tanners can buy ■ our skins here, pay freight on them to' Australia, and after they have ' been converted into leather they pay return freight, in addition to duty, and then lay tho leathers down in New Zealand at tho same prices, and in some cases for less, than the prices at whioh the local leathers are turned out." ,

The Other Side. Exception was taken to Mr. Coles's remarks by Mr. J. Aggers, who, as a working bootmaker, was asked for an opinion on tho subject. . "Some, of the factories in this town;" he said, "work their men as hard as it is possiblo for men'to be forked, especially so: far as the strong work' is concerned. Iu some cases tho work is absolute slavery. Another thing, that must be taken into consideration: is the fact that some of the factories in Australia put out boots in much larger quantities than we do in New Zealand. Sere, a man. may bo given a dozen 1 pairs of boots to make, and these may: be divided into six different size?, whereas in Australia a man may be given a hundred pairs of one size to make. Thie, of course, makes a great difference:" ia the quantity of work that a' man can put out." . .

• "English workers who came to New Zealand," said Mr. Aggers, "state they have to do as much here in eight hours as they hare to do in England in 10 hours. Under the present weekly wage system boots in many cases cost less to produce than they did under the old piece-work system, In 60me instances boots that cost Is. 6d. to produce'under the- old system arc now made for'about Is. A very high" standard of workmanship is insisted upon and it is got out of the men."

As to the statement regarding slowingdown, Mr. Aggers said: "It does not matter which country & bootmaker works in—whether Australia or New Zealand—a bootmaker is extend-, ed to the fullest possible limit.. Anyone who has worked in a, boot factorv knows that the men are kept at a high tension from tho, first thing in the morning till the last thing at night. I do not think there is much truth in •' the statement a:s to slowing down. As a matter of fact when things are slack tho men go in for a great deal of racing in order to secure a continuance of their, employment." •'■ In regard to the leather; Mr. Aggers said that the local tanneries issued a joint price-list and the buyers were defenceless. Some leathers, he said, which now cost Is. 3d. per lb., wore -not so good as some that could be formerly obtained for 9i. per lb. ,