NEED TO THINK.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 November 1919, Page 4

NEED TO THINK.

GENERAL RUSSELL’S ADVICE Major-General Sir Andrew Russell, who commanded the New Zealand Division in the western front, was the guest of honour of the New Zealand Club at Wellington. 'Major-General Russell, who was heart ily applauded on rising to reply to an address of welcome, said he appreciated the honour they had done him. 'He thought perhaps they'would like to know a few tilings that might be of value to them as the result of the experience of four and a half years at the front. It was his experience that undoubtedly the Territorial officers were very much helped in their work by the previous training they had received in their civil occupations, and so it seemed to him that the same principles which they found, absolutely essential for the successful conduct of operations at the front might have the same value in determining- the course of civil occupations here. Each occupation would certainly develop particular branches because of their more essential value. There were two or three tilings that were found to be essential at tbe front. One was expressed in the word “liaison,” which meant the knowing of what the man on your right and left was doing, or, in other words, knowing what was going on around you—not living in water-tight compartments. As an instance of the need for this in New Zealand, he said that he was 1 informed on the previous day of a case in which one Government department .was getting rid of some material at a very low price while another Government department was buying corresponding material at a very high price. NEED FOR TIME TO THINK.

Another thing that applied everywhere the Anglo-Saxon race flourished was the want of thought. In the Army they had an intelligence branch. [Beside the intelligence branch they had officers in every department who had to think out the problems in front of them. He did not know why it was, but the Englishman did hate .to think. He did not like it. It was one of those things that we had to get over. It certainly had to applied to the government of the country, and to each particular business. The people at the bead of Government departments were so busy in attending to details that they bad no time to think out the problems confronting them. As business men they would agree with him that one of the reasons why 'they as head of business concerns could not think out the problems was because they were immersed in detail. No one man could attend to all the details, even if the business was a small one. They must decentralise and- inspire the right spirit into tlieir subordinates; otherwise they would be more or less suffcated by details; their superior powers would be wasted because they did not trust their subordinates. Every man should take his subordinates into liis confidence as regards policy, so that they could give effect to it. They failed in this, to a certain extent, at the front, but insofar as they gained enormously. “We have got to take our subordinates as far as possible into our confidence,” said General Russell, “and if we do so a great many of the problems confronting' us will be assured of solution.” They must do that if they were to secure th<j common aim of their subordinates. Their aim should be to build up the

NATIONAL STORE OF CAPITAL because it was only by that they could ensure the development of the future. They could never achieve this, however, without increased production. Subordinates should feel that insofar as capital was built up it was not misused or wasted ,and that everyone got his fair share in proportion to the effort he put forth in creating it. Why should they thing the working man was going to put forward his best efforts on a fixed wage when the capitalist they knew did notT put liis best efforts forward, yet took all the profits? (Applause). They should endeavour to encourage that spirit which would help to galvanise all together. Every man at the front did. what he could because he wanted to help tlie show along. They should get the same spirit going here. They had, however, to get rid of the ABOMINABLE VICIOUS CIRCLE. They had the employing and working classes, each of which distrusted the other. While they had that the vicious circle would always continue. He submitted that the class that could break this best was the employing class. It was a mistake to suppose that the man on the wharf liked to draw high wages and do no work. He did not. No man liked that. It was never enough merely to defeat an idea. They had to have a constructive policy; they did not want to go hack to the old order. Ha suggested that nothing could be good for the individual which was not good for the community as a whole. Where they saw things going wrong they knew that was a danger spot, and had to he put right. They should put their thinking caps on both inside as well as outside Parliament, in their own lives. (Applause.)

QUEENSLAND’S SORRY PLIGHT BRISBANE; This Day.

Tlie Premier, in a speech took a gloomy view regarding the finances. The revenue was stationary and expenditure had increased alarmingly. The draft estimates showed gaps of l£i million between expected revenue and anticipated expenditure. There was a rocky road ahead, but if the country had access to the world’s money markets the difficulties would disappear.