THE CHURCH AND INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 126, 21 February 1919, Page 3

THE CHURCH AND INDUSTRY

REPORT OF THE ARCHBISHOPS' ... COMMITTEE CALL FOR MORE LEISURE AND BETTER EDUCATION The report of the Archbishops' Fifth Committee of Inquiry on Christianity and- Industrial Probjems has been published in London. Tho report covers many subjects, and conclusions of some importance are reached. The existing industrial system makes it exceedingly difficult to carry out the principles of Christianity, the report declares, ami the solution or the industrial problem involves therefore not. merely the improvement of individuals but a fundamental change in the spirit of the system itself. The fundamental evil of modern industrialism, says the signatories, is that it .cncourages competition for private gain instead of co-operation for public service. This perversion of motive fosters, among other things, an organisation of industry which treats the workers as "hands" -rather than as persons, and which deprives them of the control which they may reasonably claim to •exercise over the conditions under which they earn their livelihood and a disposition on .the part of some to seek their own advantage at the expense of the community bs\uncluly limiting the output, raising the prices, or deteriorating the quality of their . work. Industry ought, primarily ,to be regarded. as a social service. Large expenditure on amusements and luxuries should be discouraged in .all classes of society, and wasteful habits should be condemned.

Call for Adequate Wage, The ■ first' charge upon every industry, the 'report goes oil, should be the payment of a sufficient wage to enable the worker to maintain himself and his family : in health- and honour, with such a margin of leisure as will 'reasonable recreation. Excessive liofirs should be' prevented, and overtime and Sunday labour a-educed to a minimum. .. 'The principle'-of . the living wage involves ; not only adequate payment during employment, bu,t" continuity of employment. The -deliberate casualifatioiiof laliour merely for the convenience of employers is strongly condemned. Provision should be made for the adequate maintenance of'the'worker during a time of industrial-slackness by an extension of the system of insurance iigainst .unemployment and by any otlief means which seem desirable. ' Big profits and child labour are condemned. /lie committee ■ declare,? that young persons. should' be permitted to attend school full time-up to 15, and ultimately up to 16, to spend, unless engaged in occupations which are themselves .directly, educational, uot k.s. than half their ' working time in continued school education between the age at which they ceijse full time attendance at school and tlie age of, 18. Industrial Parliament. Industries ir, which organisation is impossible or difficult-should,'.the.commit-tee says, be regulated by trade boards on the principle of the Act of 1909. It should bo the normal practice in organised.' trades for. employers and workers to confer at regular intervals, _ and the associations representing individual industries might be federated in a larger, and more representative body—a National Industrial Parliament, representing the statesmanship"f all parties concerned in industry. To this Parliament dispute*; incapable of settlement otherwise might be submitted. With regard' to housing, the committee declares that it is the duty of the State n.nd local authorities to acquire land compulsorily for. tho provision of sufficient and healthful houses, to develop towns with dufl regard to the provision of open spaces, and themselves to undertake the building of houses where the number is inadequate. Much attention was devoted to educa-' 'tion, on wliioli interesting recommendations are made. Nursery schools for children from two to five years of age should be established, open-air schools ksliouW be increased, and'when necessary full' use should be made of the powers ,conferred by the Provision of Meals Act. A larger place should be given in all schools to practical work.

.' More Money for Education, ' •The'present expenditure on education, the committee declares, is unworthy both of its object and of the nation. The proportion ought' to be largely and progressively increased. The committee calls for the raising of the status of teachcrs, and declare that their salaries should be commensurato vrith their needs 'and the, importance ,of the service to the State. - '

The wages of adults should be raised sufficiently to make it, unnecessary for the incomb of the family to be supplemented ,by the labour of children. In the meantime adequate maintenance' allowances should be paid to those parents who would otherwise be unable to dispense with the earnings of -their children.

With regard to the question which, tho committee says, the ironical might ask: "Why have Christians and Christian leaders been so often associated with resistance to movements of social progress and reform?" they rqply: "The famous saying of the. revolutionary heroine, "O, Liberty! what crimes are committed in thy name!' may remind, us that the noblest tilings of human fife may be condemned if tried, by the i;raotice of some of the people' or generations, or classes who have carried their banners."