SHARING WORK AND WAGES

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 102, 27 October 1933, Page 6

SHARING WORK AND WAGES

(To the Editor.) Sir,—l see that the "Evening Post"' has a suggestion by Mr. E. S. Paul about "a reduction in hours without a reduction in wages as a means of alleviating the unemployment position." Will you now be good enough to give my suggestion a space in your columns?—that • workers should be employed for half a day only, on mornings and afternoons on alternate weeks, the morning work to begin at 8 am and finish at 12.30 p.m., and the afternoon from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Employers who are concerned about unemployment might form an association and decide to give this a trial. It is not good for men to be accepting relief work, nor is it possible to carry that on indefinitely, and it is worse for them to be idle. Special attention should be given to the training of children to ensure the best use of their leisure. Teach every child gardening and a knowledge of arts and crafts. Give every one a chance to enjoy sunshine and freedom each day, and time to plan for days to come, and spend wages wisely, "o guard against over-production experts should be engaged to decide quantity and quality. In conclusion, I would suggest that wages and work should be pooled and divided. NVho remembers "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch," the great-hearted mother who heard the poor boy whistling along the road just as her children were taking their uood soup? The story goes (lint she filled a soup plate with boiling

water, put the whole of the soup and added water back in the pot, and by the time the tired, hungry boy came to the door there was a place set for him, anil lie felt no embarrassment. Why should we not end this pecuniary distress of our brothers and sisters?—l am, etc., WINIFRED. KING.