The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, MAY 23rd, 1924. INDUSTRIAL PEACE.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 May 1925, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, MAY 23rd, 1924. INDUSTRIAL PEACE.

Niw /.K.M.AXD has lid. or lias still, for tli • matter of that, its Wei fan League. The organisation. howowr. Ini-, been o] crating cliietly in rcganl to political matter-. At Home there o an [nJuxtri.il Wei,arc Society winch

is seeking steadili. ,wnl it is believed surely til establish jea.e ill industry. It is a most desirable objective, ;ml nil will agree there is much room for necessary work. A commercial j >:i |>«*i issued in London, referring to tln> matter. ones on to say that reference has often hot'll made to the efforts of the Industrial Welfare Society in seeking to eliminate the root causes of industrial instability hv the improvement of relations between employers and employed, and it. is satisfactory to note that slow Imt real progress is being made in this dire. lion. Although a certain measure of success towards peace in industry has I wen achieved by joint councils and tommittecs and sumo .forms of prolit-sliaring, there still remains the potent and ] rimary fact that the lirsL stops towards eliminating suspicion and antipathy between employers and workers must lie taken inside individual places of work. The old secrecy which cloaks industrial activity excites suspicion and encourages impracticable theories, and also keeps the general public in such a state of ignorance that there has never yet been any considerable interest in the dillii ulties under which industrial undertakings work during such periods as the present. The policy of the Industrial Welfare Society is one whi ! will lead every linn to investigate its relationships with its employees from a new angle and which will deliberately and with sincerity make every elfoVt to improve those relationships. Such a policy will ensure that work is performed under the best possible conditions, that full precautions arc taken to preserve the health and safety of the workers, that facilities are gradually introdm ed which will create standards of self-respect. There is much room for improvement in such matters, and no heavy expenditure is required to remedy them. For seven years the Industrial Welfare Society have been engaged in introducing this polity to industrial and commercial firms, ami each year more have been added to tile list of those who have started to investigate the merits of the ease until the stage has been readied when from !,L0) to 1,200 firms in all industries are interested enough to test the policy for themselves. Other linns to tin' number of about 2.00;)

u*o wutohinji ileVt-lojunciits, imt those ire a more fraction of the total, and the mini hors must ho multiplied by ton I tofu iv the influence of the movement makes itself felt on a national scale. Still, the foundation lia.s I .ven solidly laid. The Industrial Welfare Society recently submitted to the Committee on Industry and Tr.’de. evidence frrm more than three hundred firms to the effect that they regarded their welfare'schemes as an integral part of the managerial pel icy, and as being instrumental in creating confidence between themselves and their workers. Tt would appear that in the polity of the Society lies the path to a new spirit in industry. Xo great national .schemes will ever change the relations between those who manage, and those who work for wages, neither will any scheme, with a partisan bias do anything hut make the position worse. '1 he problem of industrial peace and efficiency i s a human problem which requires a human solution, and it is for employers to take the lead.