The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1919. DEMANDING THE IMPOSSIBLE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 106, 29 January 1919, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1919. DEMANDING THE IMPOSSIBLE

At this distance. and with no more information than is supplied from day to day in fragmentary cablegrams, it is hopeless to attempt a detailed analysis of the Labour troubles in Great Britain which are working, as one correspondent has said, like a fever in the blood. Here and there, however, a really illuminating fact is brought to ' light. For instance, some recent messages have mentioned that great bodies of British workmen are demanding a radical reduction in .working hours, not as a matter of justice to themselves from the standpoint of hearth and efficiency, but in order to make room for the men who are being demobilised or released from war industries. It is, of coui-se, right and necessary that the industrial conditions 'during the war period should be modified as soon as possible by the reduction of hours and in many other ways. It is not reform on these lines, however, that is sought by tho workers who are demanding the concession of a forty-ho'ur week "as a means of_ absorbing the thousands of men being demobilised from the Army." The view taken by union members and officials whv> support this demand plainly is that by shortening the hours of workers now engaged, and as a consequence reducing their output, the available field of employment will be broadened and en-' larged. The fact is that unduly limiting work ; ng hours is rather calculated to have quite the opposite effect to that desired. There is a danger, however, that the legitimate demands that are being made for a reduction in the extremely long hours worked during the war period, and in some cases for the abandonment of extra shifts, may give a. false value to the extravagant claims that are being put forward by some industrial groups. Fortunately there is evidence that many amongst the British workers themselves are able to distinguish between'a reasonable reduction and adjustment of hours and a reduction that would cripple industry, make it impossible to meet war obligations and burdens, and, by limiting employment and in other ways, tell heavily against the workers, including those who think they see in an extreme shortening of the working day and week an open road to good times and prosperity. An official of the Engineering and Shipbuilding Federation, Me. Smith, was quoted a day or two ago as stating that a vast majority of its members had agreed to give the forty-seven hour week a fair trial. To-day, again, it is stated that there is no unanimity amongst the workers on the Clyde in regard to the demands put forward by the extreme faction and that the 'employees of many large establishments remaining meantimo at work. It is to be hoped that these reports are not unduly optimistic as indicating that sane views may yet prevail. NotHing is more certain than that the success of the agitation for a general reduction ,in working hours to forty per week, or even less, would be a disaster instead of a victory for the British workers.

In the relatively simple conditions that exist in a country like New Zealand it is easy to perceive that there are limits to the possibility of improving industrial and social conditions by the restriction of working hours. Most people are or should be aware that in its results the work done by farmers, by those who arc; making roads and bridges and railways, and in fact by all whose labours are either directly productive or developmental in character, is constantly extending and broadening the total field of employment which exists in this country. Few people are so ill-in-formed as not to be aware that if farmers and other , producers went to extremes in curtailing their working hours and their output workers generally, more especially those engaged in secondary industries, and the country as a whole, would suffer. The issues now raised in Great Britain are not different in principle though they are in some respects more complex. Most of the workers who thus far havo ■proposed to reduce their working week to forty hours, or even to thirty hours, in order to provideemployment for soldiers and discharged war workers arc coalminers, engineers, and shipyard workers. There is no doubt as to what the actual result of slowing down in these industries will be. It has already been pointed out by British commentators that if the extravagant demands of the ' miners are conceded one result will be to cripple the textile industries in Lancashire through shortage of coal. This, of course, would mean shortage of employment, and is typical of a wholo series of similar results which undoubtedly ■would follow from the same cause. Cheap and plentiful coal and h, maximum output of machinery and of shipping tonnage all maEe potently, not in one direction only but in scores, for a rapid expansion of industry and production, and as a consequence for a rapid extension of the field of employment. It follows, of course, that workers in 'mines, engineering shops, and shipyards who are at once demanding unreasonably restricted hours and extravagant wages are taking the course best calculated to bring about a general paralysis of industry. Instead of widening the. total field of employment, the reduction of hours beyond a reasonable . point would narrow it to a minimum. The policy of absurdly curtailing work-

ing hours and output and demanding extravagant remuneration need only be carried far enough to bring the whole magnificent structure of British industry toppling down in ruin.

The gravity of the position created in Great Britain is of course much intensified by the fact that the country is carrying an enormous burden of war debt-and obligations. This burden is serious in any case, but it will become overwhelming unless a great expansion in production is secured. Obviously the annual charges which will have to be met for many years to come in paying off the war burden will be more or less serious accordnig to the proportion they bear to the simultaneous development of industry and expansion in the production of wealth. Othci conditions are so far favourable that it seems safe to say that the loyal co-operation of the workers in Great Britain is the one thing needed to ensure a rapid and sustained increase in the production of wealth. W-age-earncrs are , 'above all interested in bringing about this state of affairs since it would' mean at once a steady lightening of the war burden and the best possible return for their own efforts. Employment must be found for returned soldiers, but the method proposed is one which would in the end not ouly prove to the detriment of the men it is supposed to be designed to assist, but would mean strangling the vital industries of the country, on which so many other industries depend, and so prejudicing the position of all classes of workers.