FIVE HOURS A DAY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2132, 15 July 1907, Page 3

FIVE HOURS A DAY.

The millenium is certainly nearer for the worker in New Zealand, if tlio evidence given in the Arbitration Court at Wellington by Dr. McDonald is to be taken as a precedent to follow. Answering a question as to tho number of hours ho considered sufficient per day for a compositor, lie replied that four or five hours were quite enough for a man to work 1 And the doctor seemed a perfectly sane man, with- sorao idea too, of what he was talking about. But we must certainly say that we have seldom heard such rubbish given as evidence on oath. If five hours a day is sufficient for a grown man in full health and strength, how many would be prescribed for the mother of a family? If any member of a working man’s household is over-worked it is certainly not the man who does eight hours a day, but those members of his household who have to do their day’s toil and then spend tho greater part of the rest of the twenty-four hours in ministering to the wants of the poor, worn-out worker, who has been compelled to stand for four hours of brain exercise. But it is visionary faddists like Dr. McDonald who take no account of matters outside their own peculiar fancies, who do more to sap the independence of the workers and allow competition to reduce tho opportunities for gaining a decent livelihood, that are a positive drawback to genuine progress and opportunities for advancement. — Feilding Star.