The Daily News. THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1921. ORGANISATION AND EFFICIENCY.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 April 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1921. ORGANISATION AND EFFICIENCY.

All public bodies, as well as the Government, liave their difficulties in solving the problem of obtaining a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay from their employees. The amount of money contributed by the public, and lost every year through the want of organisation, efficiency, and close supervision must in the aggregate be very large. In a time of financial stress such as is now being encountered in the Dominion and elsewhere, it is more than ever imperative to obtain the best possible value for all expenditure, especially in view of the high rate of wages obtaining. At the recent meeting of the Stratford County Council a discussion took place on the goslow policy and disloyalty of some of the men. The chairman remarked that this state of affairs existed throughout the Dominion, the same time he favored paying good wages to good men, and discharging the loafers. He also expressed the opinion that the council, dairy companies and others should not employ disloyal men, even though they are good workers, or that such men should have a seat on directorates, as their good work is nullified by their seditious talk and propaganda. The logical conclusion to be drawn from these remarks as to disloyalty is that no disloyal man or Socialist would either be eligible for employment, a seat in the Legislature, or on any public body or company. Some day public opinion may take this view, arid 'be favorable to dealing drastically with the enemies within the gates. The question of getting full value for wages paid is a vital and urgent matter. There is far too much laxity in the expenditure of public money due-to the lack of businesslike methods, of planning, organisation, and oversight. It is not that there are no conscientious workers, for there are many such who need practically no oversight, and may be relied

full value for their wages, whether under the eyes of a foreman or not. It is the slackers that are the cause of all the trouble, and now that the supply of workers is overtaking the demand, the day of the slacker will soon pass away if the employers will but do their duty. Under present financial conditions all waste should be rigorously prevented, whether of man-power or material, and efficiency made the test of service. Another illustration of this problem was mentioned in the report of the engineer of the New Plymouth Harbor Board, presented at the meeting on Friday, in which he said: “It is very evident the board must agree to some definite plan of working when they augment their present working force, the present system of concentration upon one job only—and that a breakwater—affording no means of diverting labor and material to useful works when heavy seas interfere with the regular jobs on hand.” That is the principle which all public bodies should adopt in relation to their regular staff of employees. If anything, the works carried out by means of public bodies should he a model of economical business methods. A contractor or private employer can do as he pleases in the matter of obtaining value for his money, but the Government and all public bodies are trustees for the public, and should see to it that full value is obtained for all expenditure.