Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, AUGUST 4,1921. MORALITY IN BUSINESS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2311, 4 August 1921, Page 2

Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, AUGUST 4,1921. MORALITY IN BUSINESS.

A MOVEMENT has been started in England toward “a Christian order of industry and commerce,” and at one of its meetings recently the principal speaker was Lord Robert Cecil. He said that competition was not wrong, but it might be carried too far, and the increase in competition, even in sports and athletics, he attributed to the theories of evolution and of political economy. He proceeded: It is important to remember that'neither evolution nor political economy is a moral code, and if we wish to sec where morality will lead us we must look elsewhere. One of the results of competition has been to dehumanise business relations. The phrase ‘business is business' is a soul-de-stroying maxim if ever there was one. The spirit of rivalry in competition, not merely between one business and another, but between businesses themselves, has been insisted upon until there is a great, deep division all over the world, with great trusts on one side, and on the other the general strike, with all its incredible folly. But, dangerous as I think trusts are, I think the theory of the general strike is really absolutely destructive, and it is not sufficiently recognised that it is a logical development of the* competitive spirit. AVo have really got to the position where industrial difficulties and differences become so great and so profound that it does not seem unreasonable to one side to settle them by something which is really economic civil war. That is a terrible reproach to us all. But do not let us say that any one section of the community is solely to blame. The workman brings his strength and skill into business, and i! becomes just as much a psirt of the capital of - the business as anything else. It is his contribution to the essential foundation on which a business must'be built, and he ought to have —if he is really to he brought to feel, and if the employer also is to be brought to feel, that they are both working together as one whole — his proper share, not only of the profits, but most of all, of the responsibilities and duties of management.”

jeeted to a maternity ward at the Hospital, on the grounds of environment. The Board decided to purchase an area of land adjoining the Hospital for the purpose with a separate entrance, and removed some distance from the main buildings. The land was purchased, and a sum of £5,000 allocated for the maternity ward. This led to strong opposition on the part of Mrs Gill and a large number of petitioners, who were of opinion that a maternity hospital should be established in the town and away altogether from the hospital. Certain properties were submitted to the Board as suitable for the purpose, but the Board stood by its previous motion that if a maternity hospital was to be administered by the Board it should be on the site acquired by tho Board for the purpose. It was suggested as a compromise that the Government should be approached to establish a St. Helen’s Hospital for the district. The Minister would not consent to this unless the district handed over a building and ground for the purpose. All parties are now united with this object in view, and it is proposed to raise the sum of £IO,OOO lo secure a suitable* building and site. There should not be any difficulty in raising this sum throughout the Hospital Board district, and a scheme is now afoot with this object in view, full details of which will be explained at the public meeting to be held in the Masonic Hall to-morrow night. With a St. Helen’s Hospital established in Palmerston N., not only will nurses be trained for service throughout the Board's district, but prospective mothers will be admitted. The object is a worthy one, and we hope Foxton will do its share in the matter.