DOMINION NEWS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 255, 25 September 1940, Page 8

DOMINION NEWS

PAYMENT BY RESULTS

EAIPLOYER’S SUGGESTION

Per Press' Association. WELLINGTON, bept. -o. In a speech at the opening of tj Em Movers’ Federation Conference, the president (Air AV. Machin): emphasised two matters. He considered l>oit ant at the present time piodriction which is vital to our prosper! \ proposal, that; decisions , of the Arb Qa tion Court shall in. future be subject t 0 Agitating that . New Zealand’s great production in primary industries. had been based on payment by icsults, Mr Machin said .he was certain New Zealand was missing the highest production in many industries “ wage’s were being paid at time «- ’ particularly in the present atniospheic of strictly-limited working time law. Therefore for the duration of war at least he thought we should i.e vert wherever possible to Piece vork and payment by results, and suspend for the time being the present i o limitation of working hours, which i was sure was inducing in many earners, consciously or unconsciously, . a limitation of effort which was slowing up production. . ■ He quoted the Government Statistician’s estimate of factory for the vears ended -June, 19JJ. anu 1940—£30,500,000 in each ease; which, if it turned out correct, showed that production last June must have been lower because prices had risen and the value was estimated at no more. Jt the Prime Minister’s exhortation to “work for vour lives” was to be given the meaning he intended and the meaning this grave hour demanded it was surely not too much to ask that serious consideration should bo given the question of payment by results.

In regard to the Arbitration Court, Air Alachin said that if trade and industry were to flourish it must be recognised that the arbitrary apportionment of wage charges on industry on the basis of an assumed and anticipated volume and price return which might or might not eventuate must give way to a sounder and more ordered method, otherwise industry might languish because it would lose part of its intangible but most important capital of enterprise and willingness to adventure because of arbitrary and discouraging , impositions by the power of the State.

Before, therefore, the State wielded this power it should he satisfied, and all concerned should he satisfied, that judgments which might seem to he illfounded had been impartially reviewed.

SERIOUS CHARGE

William McCready, a ~ taxi-driver, who elected to stand liis trial on a charge of having in ibis possession fifty copies of the People’s Voice with a view to facilitating the publication of a subversive statement was allowed bail.

AIR RAID FUND,

The Air Raid Victims’ Fund in Wellington has reached £9444-odd against the quota of £56/5. All money in excess of the quota will, in accordance with a Mayoral statement, be devoted to general patriotic purposes of a similar nature.

An appeal made to pupils by the headmaster of v the Dominion Road School, Auckland, to forgo their Guy Fawkes celebrations and devote the funds to patriotic purposes has been brought under Lord Galway’s notice by the secretary of the School Committee, who suggests the possibility of making the appeal national. Lord Galway has replied that he is arranging for the proposal to be discussed by the National Patriotic Fund Board.

ENGLISH CHILDREN ARRIVE,

AUCKLAND, Sept. 25

Accompanied by tlicir mothers or escorts to join relatives in New Zealand, a group of English children are in Auckland. There are several infants, and the ages of the others range to 16 years. Most have lived in the South of England, where the air raids have been frequent. The visitors have been met by representatives of the Government and the British Children Placement Committee. None of the children has come to New Zealand under the placement scheme which has been prepared by the authorities and in connection with which a large number of homes have been offered. One boy aged seven, when asked how he thought he would like New' Zealand, blandly replied; “Oh! I know' New Zealand. I have been here two times before!’*

LINESMAN’S DEATH,

HASTINGS, Sept. 25

AVliilo engaged in repairing power lines in Hastings this morning, Alfred Gordon Read, married, aged about 37, was electrocuted and subsequently died at the Alemnrial Hospital. Air Read was on the top of a power pole and apparently came in contact with a 236 volt wire. He was placed in an iron lung, but after about an hour it was apparent death had intervened.

SHOPPING HOURS

Opposition to proposed legislation giving the Arbitration Court power to fix hohrs for shopping and deciding the statutory half-holiday was expressed at a meeting of the Hastings Chamber of Commerce last, evening. Members resented the treatment being accorded retailers by the present Government and contended that any attempt to shorten the hours of .work should be strenuously opposed.