COST OF PRODUCTION

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 53, 25 May 1927, Page 13

COST OF PRODUCTION

LABOUR’S SIDE OF THE CASE REPLY TO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Commenting on the Chamber of Commerce statement recently as to the causes of unemployment, Mr. G. Stove, secretary of the Labour Party, said he was somewhat astounded that the Chamber of Commerce, which is composed largely of the heads of business houses, who should value their business reputation, should have made such a statement. “It appears,” he said, “that the committee has been influenced by the world-wide propaganda to reduce the standard of life of the workers, a'nd to shift the war debt responsibility from one set of shoulders to another. “To suggest that the repeal of legislation which was enacted for the specific purpose of assisting industry and production would now give it a fillip, will not be accepted by many people with an intimate knowledge of both sides of the question. PRIMARY PRODUCTION “Take, for instance, the primary industries. Examine the labour cost. It is one of New Zealand’s greatest achievements that the wool-carrying capacity per sheep has been increased approximately 40 per cent in a period of 30 years. Wool, per pound, costs less to shear and bale than it did 30 years ago. This, of course, can be attributed to up-to-date machines and modern methods of handling and of transport. “The same can be said of the dairy industry. A search of the figures of the Official Year Book over a similar period will find a substantial increase in the butter-fat yield per cow. The same can be applied to the factories, both butter and cheese. What is true of those industries is also true of the agricultural industry. RAMIFICATIONS OF FINANCE “We could pass on to the flax and timber industries, and in fact to almost every industry we possess, with the same result. Even the occupation of the navvy has not been left undisturbed, and the introduction of steam and petrol-driven machinery has reduced the cost of excavation, and consequently reduced the number of hands employed. These evidences of a cheaper production supply a reason for unemployment, and that to find a remedy for the problem one will have to go further and search deeper than a repeal of labour legislation. The search will have to be carefully conducted in the realms of finance, and the whole of its vast ramifications explored.” “However, if the Chamber df Commerce is serious in its statement, the Labour Party would ask them, since they would return to individual bargaining with the worker over hours and conditions, will they advocate the repeal of the I-' r Bisputes Investigation Act, a : . . other legis-

lation that restricts the worker in regard to contracts, strikes, articles of indenture, job action, and control? If the chamber is consistent, and would abolish one, then it too must advocate unrestricted license of action for the worker.”