The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, MAY 24, 1926. PRODUCTION AND WAGES

Hokitika Guardian, 24 May 1926, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, MAY 24, 1926. PRODUCTION AND WAGES

That iu the manufacturing- industries of the United States the standard of efficiency is high, the production.enormous, and the rate of wages superior to that prevailing in any other part of the world has long been admitted. But the causes which have effected this very desirable combination are very differently stated. One authority will assert that America owes her super iorilty in industrial matters to those immense natural advantages with which she has been so favourably handicapped. Another will declare that her success is due to the possession of a home market so vast that the calls upon industry which it needs must make are never-ending, lint are these the real reasons? Consider the case of Orc-at Britain, a case indeed which is forced upon our eonsieration by the very grave industrial crisis with which the Old Country was lately faced. The British Empire produces two-thirds of the world's wool and rubber, nearly threefourths of its tea and gold, and to all intents and purposes the whole of its jute. Great Britain has had the whole world for her market for a century, and during that period she has built up an organisation based upon unrivalled experience and continuous activity. Yet, with these advantages, surely equal in value to those possessed by her American cousin, why is she dropping behind? An answer to the problem has just been provided by two young Englisch engineers who have now published the result of their travels in a small volume entitled “The Secret of High Wages.” This hook, says an exchange, -lias created, and very properly created, an extraordinary interest in England; and indeed it is not too much to sav of it that “the now industrial gospel”—to quote the “Spectator’s” description of it—is a hook as arresting and as important as any that the Press has issued from its proliferous maw for many a year. Messrs Austin and Lloyd, the young authors referred to, asked themselves if there were any insurmountable obstacles which prevented Britain, or any other country for that matter, from achieving the same results as had been achieved in America. They travelled America to find the answer; and they set out the result of their discoveries in a little over a hundred pages of print, every line of which is pregnant with interest and value. It is imposiblc to do more here than briefly summarise their report; but so important is the whole document that its printing at a nominal charge, and even its circulation throughout . the country at the Government expense, has been advocated by several authorities in England, including at least one newspaper of standing. Messrs Austin and Lloyd declare that the success and efficiency of American manufacturing industries may he reduced to nine fundamental principles. To each of these they devote a detailed attention which is remarkable for its concentration. There is nothing hazy about their report. It gives chapter and verse for every statement it makes and it is as easy to read, as it is compelling in its logic. Wherever rend it should bestow almost as much light and benefit as upon our brethren in Britain; and never surely was there greater need of such bestowal