PROZEN MEAT INDUSTRY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1632, 26 December 1912, Page 8

PROZEN MEAT INDUSTRY.

i THE LABOUR QUUSTION. Referring- in his address at tho annual meeting of tlio Canterbury Frozen Moat; Co. to tlio .labour ([tioslion, Sir George Clifford said they were, ever faco to face with tl(o steady rise in the price of lal>our 'which,'" when legitimately obtained ill proportion to an advanced cost of living, was an evidence of general prosperity, 'and was then, certainly not grudged by reasonable employers. ■ It must/ however, bo always 1 rcineliibcrcd that there was. a point at which increased cost of working kills or embarrasses an industry, in which ease tho en tiro edifico crumbles, to the detriment of all concerned, whether employer or employed. When it was realised that 110 less a sum than .£!)(),000 is Mutually distributed in wages by the,' Canterbury Frozen. Meat Company, it needed no skilled arithmetician to discover tho percentage of additional payment which would automatically cripple the machinery.' .If the, capital invested should cease to bear interest, it would then be temporarily or permanently useless, both to the investor- ' and to .the wide circle directly or indirectly benefited by its . industrial employment. ' There ' was, however, abundant coniniqg-Mnse i:i the community when; mulistracted by artificial excitement, and he had too much confidence in tli2 prutleneo and judgment' of tho selected- and skilled men who took' part in industries iu their various stations and degrees as conductors or operators, to believe that they would forco ung-anerous ■ restrictions oil -the ono side or destructive demands on the other.