LOST TIME AT MINES.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1919, Page 7

LOST TIME AT MINES.

WOY MEN TAKE RESTS Time lost by miners is a considerable cause of reduced output of the '"inn* From an investigation of the time lost ftt the State mines for the purposes of the Board of. Trade inquiry, it appears that the percentage of time lost was 41.9. This takes no account of such recognised rest days as union holidays and pay Saturdays and in the calcufation the time counted as lost was on days when the mine could have been worked, i.e., when other causes such as lack of shipping', or of trucks did not make it impossible to keep ,tbe mine open. The time "lost" was time avoidably lost by the miners. The period covered is from April, 1913, to September, 1918, for the Point Elizabeth mine, and April, 1815, to September, 1918, for the Liverpool mine.

This condition is typical, bu,t not general. In some mines, the number of phifts worked per man has increased even although the mines have been open more days per year during tho war period.

The report makes the following commentary:—

Tho explanation of any reduction (of time worked) ,that exists is to be found in the increase in the average earnings of the miner, and in the greater force exerted during the period by those causes which bring about any absenoe from work at all. An increase in money earning tends of itself •to make the miner shorten his working time, until he may be forced to realise that the increased earnings are offset by a rise in his expenditure. The nature of » miner's work is such that he sets a higher value on leisure than the ordinary worker, and, after a certain point is reached in his income, he is prepared to forego further earnings in return for an addition to its enjoyment, which implies a considerable rise in his standard ff comfort. The use he will make of this additional leisnre, and its ethical value to the community as a whole, will depend upon his temperament, education, and the general environment society has provided for him. The late Lord Rhondda, writing in 1903 on "The Growth and Direction of our Foreign Trade in Coal," generalises thug from his own research: "There is a very human disposition on the part of the collier, not unknown among those in other walks of life, to take life easier as income improves."

In, New Zealand the output per person employed underground has varied somewhat—l9l3, 590 tons; IM4, 639 tons; 1915, 711 tons; 1916,' 750 tons; 1917, 715 tons; 1918, 703 tons. And the Board of Trade makes these remarks in comment:—

An appreciable degree of voluntary absence is a feature associated with coal-mining in all countries. It is a tradition or custom deeply rooted in the peculiar nature of the occupation, where men work deep underground for wages at a rate high enough to allow of a tolerable standard of comfort without Incessant labor. It is, in our opinion, a result of the strain and disagreeableness of the work itself, and the opportunity for a certain amoimt of leisure offered by tha comparatively high -wages. Hotels, gambling' and races are not so much the causes of absenteeism as conditions favoring the easy operation ot Hie real causes; and influencing a certain section t>f the mining population to spend their leisure in certain ways rather tllaii in others; The misuse of leisure is as great among the: general population as amongst the miners as a body if we take account of differences in environment, and the ; opportunities of using- leisure. In a few mining-fields, where alternative methods of spending leisure are few, .the prohibition of alcoholic liquors or. horse-racing would probably lead -to a; slightly higher percentage of possible- time bemg> wwrked; but the average miner is convinced that he works sufficiently long and sufficiently hard, having due ; Regard , to his. health and efficiency. Any considerable improvement in annual output per mart must be looked for as the result of better training of the worker, better otgßriisation- of -lkbor within 'and without the mines, and a more intensive application of capital in the shape of machinery, etc., rather than from an extension of the number of shifts worked- per year by the miner.