NEW CHIEF

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 140, 10 December 1929, Page 9

NEW CHIEF

N.S.W. RAILWAYS

GOSPEL FOR EMPLOYERS

(From "The Post';" Representative.)

SYDNEY, 24th November.

What manner of man, it might well be asked, ia the newly-appointed chief of the New South Wales railways, who has refused £.7500 a year, and will undertake the task of reorganising the vast.system at £.5000 a year? Well, he is the man who, judging by his past record in a private sphere, is most likely to achieve the object for which he has been appointed.

To a large extent Mr. W. J. Cleary is an idealist. He has views that take him out of the usual rut. Ho has been a wonderfully successful business man, self-made to a large extent, keen, and with a sense of patriotism that is not usually found in every successful business man. That is to say, he is prepared to sacrifice the business he has built up—the largest brewery concern :in the Commonwealth —in order to put tho railways of his State in order. ' He is prepared to sacrifice the quiet of his present position to enter the hurly-burly of railway control, where he will have to coutend with politics, of which he knows but little, and probably cares less. He could easily have .continued as head of the brewery, where his. workers are contented and his business prosperous. Men under him have never gone on strike. From comparative ■ obscurity he will come into the limelight.

Mr. Cleary is going to be a different sort of railway commissioner. So much is plain already, for he has said that he realises that the railways are owned by the people, who are represented by the Government. Therefore he sees it his duty to work in with any Government that' may be in power—to cooperate as closely as he can with that Government. Being a Bachelor of Economics he has some rather advanced views as to his duties, but he is willing to give the State the best that is in him, and the State hopes that he will be able to make the railway system pay and so lift a dead, weight off the shoulders of the taxpayers—a burden they have been called upon to carry for far too long.

PROBLEMS OF PERSONNEL,

"I intend to. examine some of the problems of personnel in modern industry," said Mr. Cleary soon after he had.received his appointment. "Bemember; the- different influences which bear upon the efficiency of an industrial worker. They are workshop environment, home environment, and social environment, in the community of which the worker is a member. Employers must admit the effect of workshop environment. Some do it readily, some grudgingly. But few recognise the reactions of domestic and social circumstances. Within tho workshops the law has established some minimum standards. But the law has followed tardily on the heels of the best current practice. If workshops be badly lighted, the seats too high, too low, or too few, machines too noisy, atmosphere too dusty or too heavy—the law is blind, deaf, and dumb.

"Work may be brightened, and. made more interesting and personal by ■the introduction of a more personal touch, into the relations between, workers, supervisors, and managers. A sales girl who belongs to a glee club, a gymnasium, a dramatic society, or a "literary class will take a livelier interest. Fatigue has recently been the subject of scientific investigation. It may result from causes other than voluntary physical effort. Bad lighting— .too'dull, too bright, or improperly arranged—will induce fatigue. So will poise, or bad ventilation. Indigestion 5s in many cases an explanation, of fatigue; and here, pain, grief, and worry—especially worry—may lead to acute and lasting indigestion. TJnfriendly supervisors have been quoted as a cause of serious loss of output.

THE HTTOAN FACTOR.

"I do not propose to let into my works the incompetents. If unhealthy they belong to.the hospital; if vicious, to the gaols;'if lazy, to the bread line; if indigent, to the poorhouse. These arc Emerson's words, not mine. We must make a special study of the human factor. Welfare schemes are often frankly aimed at increasing efficiency. Ido not endorse the hostility to the 'efficiency' motive. But I feel quite sure that many employers give congenial working conditions because they like to do so. Outside the workshop the workers' experiences will affect his productive efficiency. Illhealth, pressure of economic want owing to sickness, unhappy domestic relations, the spectre of unemployment, all prey on the mind of the worker, especially, in the lower grades. No employer should claim that the private affairs or misfortunes of his employees do not concern him or should not be taken into account in judging a breach of discipline or dereliction of duty. Adequate pay, reasonable hours, -suppression of heavy monotonous degrading labour by machinery, provision of holidays, human relation and social motives in industry, healthy homes, and cheerful environment—these are indispensable conditions of economic efficiency. They are also among the. elementary rights of the citizen."

And now the railway employers do not know exactly what to expect when Mr. Cleary assumes control early next month.