INEFFICIENCY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 133, 1 March 1920, Page 5

INEFFICIENCY

Sir.—Tour loader in Wednesday's Dominion on. inefficiency amongst workers ought, to make all right-thinlring men and women try to find n solution of tho serious blot that rests upon «3 9 workers. Trades unions to a large ex- . tent are not now interested with tho apprentice question. There4s no blinking the fact tJhat tradesmen to-day are nor oiu proficient as they might or ought to he. The employer in 6ome iustajKys demands quantity, and the consumer pays dearly for the efficiency. Staia ownership would be tha only way out of th<> difficulty, and vet in that wn ■ teo much indifference whether tho work is well or ill done, especially amongst woman workers. , We havo Take our tailoring trade for example. y How many (if any) men are employed, f on trouser and vest-making to-day? It , wasn't inefficiency that pushed them out . —only the cheaper labour. Boys and - girls who go to tlmt trade often are i under inefficient men or women. Just i imagine a forewoman in a costumo fac- - torv gottiii£ a week and hardly knew Hie ton o't a sleeve from the bottom. - In t'hat case tho work of instruction lay t with the proficient workcr-perhaps nob 0 so "good-looking." Many customers 3 don't know a good-made article from ft s bad, and don't care. Now, parents are much to blame for 1 this inefficiency, _ because they are 60 t eager to get their children rushed into > something to bring in money, whether there is a taste for tho -work or not Isn't our Civil eon-ices just rushed for the so-called oasy job and clean work? If efficiency is the necessity tho business men say it should be then this see-sawing way must drop, and let us get togother and mako tho Dominion a sood nlace to live in. I have lived in it for 15 years and do not wish for another but. there is so much friction by tha little sparks. Not long ago the works ers in some trades thought to introduce s the binding of apprentices to hold them, k but tho employers strongly objected, ana 3 made the excuse that the trades could - be learned in a year or two This is the , result: they want us to excel with tho inefficiently-tauplht'labour.- So long as - cmplo.ve:« insist on ■ quantity belorn l quality and the consumer or user and' the pulijitf accept it without- question little progress will be made I believe the Welfare League nro honest, and working on safo ground, but somehow or other when men of "brains" take a turn at tho wheel of progress we are a uspicious at once. To-day "everybody" think thev are competent .to do "domestic duties,'" but thev can't. Some grown women- tales on service who ea.n't cook a potato or make a. bed without consulting a cook, ery booX Did yon ever have those • strange things called Allies puddings? 1 Oh. -they wore heavy. Cookery demon- ' stations are useless unless 1 .time is taken. Waste is no name for what is spoilt in fiomo of the employers' ihomes, in somo • instances it is want of efficiency on both sides. These things ought riot to be. Why are parents so careless'as to whether . their boys or girls bccom'e efficient work* . ers. Slovenliness won't make New Zea- ; land. What experience can a bootmaker . have in running a clotlhing factory? Theory certainly, but workers generally would rather discuss trade disputes with' , practical employers. We colonials do not care for too hard work—only to have tlie money to spend. Money is our god inst now. bnt good wages are" Bo* solution to dissatisfied people. lou speak qf unskilled' labour being paid for than skilled. Why not? Skilled labour won't sweep the gutter or other disagreeable work. Then we must pay for it. I often wonder if doctors are as efficient as they might be. But we license them to kill or cure: 1 The Dominion has not commenced on-the bettor days predicted when the war ended, but wo must expect them soon. No profiteering in New Zealand.—l «m, etc., , ROBERT KERR. ChrißtChnrch, February 27,.,.