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Hokitika Guardian, 5 January 1931, Page 4

To labour saving machinery is attritroduetion of labour-saving and its effect upon labour is a sniped which occupies' the minds of grea speakers. Tt is a problem which hm recently called forth some profound ut ternnces by labour leaders and captain- : of industry; and the recent conventmi of the American Federation of Labouheard it discussed from the platforr by such individuals as President Her bort J. Davis. Tim mechanisation o industry is a mark of progress. Labou ! co-operates in this, yet labour suffer* when displaced by an item of labour saving equipment. AA T e cannot nffop to stop the onward march of science Imt we must see that it results in th greatest good for tlie greatest liuinbei How many o! us asks the journal would go back to the methods of onhundred and fifty years ago and plo' our fields with a sharp stick ? AAouh we lie willing to cut hay with a sc.vth and thresh grain with the soles of oui feet? None of us would burn dowr the hosiery mills and start knitting socks hv hand, and we don’t want tr break our backs mixing concrete wit! shovels. The problem is to forge ahead

with our inventive minds and at the same time set our hearts and brains to work to avoid the perils and evils ot unemployment. It is a question which challenges us with the responsibility of working together. Employer and employee eanuot solve it separately . it calls tor co-operative thought and combined reasoning. Mechanised industry is a feature of the United States, and that advance in production bus certainly had an adverse effect on manual labour .hut the readjustment is slowly coming to pass.