EFFICIENCY BOARD.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 July 1917, Page 6

EFFICIENCY BOARD.

I 1 DAIRY FACTORY- WORKERS. j QUESTION OF WOMEN WOBKERS. i ' At the recent meeting of the Efficiency Board held at Eltham Mr. T. Moss, dairyjng representative of the Board, gave the following details dealing with the running of cheese and butter factories which had -been' prepared by an expert on the question, and in his opinion j the minimum staffs to run the factories j would foe as follows:—. Skilled workers required:—Annual output, up to 100 tons, manager only; 101_ to 200 tons, manager and one first assistant; 201 to 300 tons, manager, one . first and one second assistanta; 301 to 400 tons, manager, one first and one second assistant. If making whey butter., a butter-making engineer; 40:1 to 000 tons, manager, one first and two second assistants a butter maker and an engineer. Dairy companies! (mating Icheese in more than three factories and aggregating more than COO tons annually, should be ■permitted to employ a general manager, in addition to the above. Butter factories, tup to 80 tons, one manager; 81 to 150 tons, manager and butter maker; 151 tons to 350 tons, manager, butter maker and engineer; 351 to >650 tons, manager, one butter maker, engineer and tester; 650 tons ! upwards, manager two butter makers, engineer and tester, j With the exception of the engineer, each man should lie eligible for any duty | when necessary. (Skimming stations : would each require one experienced separator man. The chairman said that in Taranaki there were 56 dairy companies employing 175 hands, and the staff necessary in normal times was 480. That, of course, was in the height of the season. The j question was where was the lalbor to come from. The dairy factories were only asking for one expert with four vats. iMr. Powdrell said fin engineer could not 'lie dispensed with. In fact, he had to be a certificated man. Mr. J. Brown said that if all the available men were going to be taken off the farms it would be a ease of closing down the factories. Women were doing a great deal now and were going to do more, but there were certain duties in connection with farm work which were impossible for them to carry out. The question of amalgamating some of the factories, or some action of a similar nature, would Jiave to be considered. The following resolutions were ■passed: ' "That in the opinion of this meeting of Board of Trustees the Government should take steps to see that the recommendations made by the Board of Trustees to the Military Service 'Boards are given effect to, as to essential men, which recommendations have always been made with a view to releasing for active service every .possible man they consider can be spared." "That in regard to the proposal that one man should toe left on each farm, this meeting would point out that in many of the recommendations that have already been made on some farms it has not -been considered essential that the man should be left ozi the farm where

there is a fair aged strong boy, and that in other eases severa? farms are now being worked as one farm with one man only for the whole of them." "That the National Dominion League be asked to organise meetings in suitable centres throughout the Dominion' to 'bring the question of the utilisation of .women labor 'before the women ir. the Dominion with a view to organising it so as to release -men for service where women labor can .be spared.'—Carried. A resolution was also ipassed in favor of providing increased cold storage.— Argus.