WHEN THE WHOLE IS LESS THAN ITS PART.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 41, 24 December 1920, Page 15

WHEN THE WHOLE IS LESS THAN ITS PART.

Euclid tells us very emphatically that the whole is greater than its part. In fact this ohvious proposition lies at the very basis of the geometry of space. But just as Mr Gladstone once solemnly deciared that in the arithmetic of the Customs two and two do not always four," so in the arithmetic of industry it dces not necessarily ioIIow that the whole is greater than its part. That this is no mere joke appears from a very interesting fact. A few weeks ago, things being slack, a big firm of hosiery manufacturers in Leic.ester intimated that they could only find work for three days a week for a certain number of men. Unless this plan was adopted tney would have to discharge some men altogether. To their credit be it said the workers preferred half-time for all rather than full time for half. At the end of the first week, the men, all oi whom were paid by the piece, drew nearly as much wages as they hacl averaged for a full week hefore. In the second and fol. lowing weeks they actually drew more, showing that in industry the half may be more productive than the whole. And the reason they gav,e was most interesting and very human.

Being on holiday for three days a week, they wanted more to spend so they promptly set to work to earn it. The results are noteworthy : the men got more money and more leisure, the employers got more leisure and a much more productive use of their machinei'y and raw materials, and the public got more hosiery.