Editorial Comment

Progress, Volume XV, Issue 7, 1 March 1920, Page 733

Editorial Comment

Town Planners will welcome the appointment of Mr. C/J. Parr. President of the Federated Town Planning Associations of New Zealand, as a member of Mr. Massey’s administration. He has accepted the portfolio of Education, for which his long experience as a member, and chairman, of the Auckland Education Board, also as a member of the Board of Governors of Auckland University makes him well fitted. Our congratulations would have been even more cordial had it been evident that Mr. Parr would also become the Minister of Internal Affairs—a position not permanently filled- at the present date—because in such a capacity, we could expect the Town Planning Minister to make a definite forward move. However, it is a tremendous advantage to have within the Cabinet so earnest and able an advocate of the reform as Mr. Parr. In his public life he has shown more than the average amount of initiative, therefore we look forward with some hope to his influence upon his colleagues in the direction of securing legislation on the lines desired by the town planning bodies. Mr. Parr was the chairman of the special legislative committee set up at the last official town planning conference. It was a representative committee, of mixed opinion, for around the table were men who regarded the question from the view-point of town districts, county councils, and boroughs— say nothing of the town planners who were out upon an educative mission in regard to members of these local bodies. Differences of opinion were, of course, very prominent, hut the Chairman’s happy combination of local administrative experience, plus town planning ideals, enabled him to co-operate with those enthusiasts who recognised the practical difficulties. associated with parliamentary work, and to evolve amendments in the Hon. G. W. Russell’s Bill which turned it into an acceptable working compromise to all. These amend-

Town Planner in the Cabinet.

ments included the important principles of local authorities having power over subdivisions, the inclusion of a system of betterment in connection with town improvement schemes, and a tactful "Blending of national with the local authority in connection with the initiation of town planning proposals. The result of the committee’s labours was presented to the conference and the Minister by Mr. Parr, and adopted without alteration. The new Minister of Education headed a deputation last session to the Minister of Internal Affairs in the hope of inducing him to take up the measure where the former Minister left off. But times were not propitious. Now the outlook is much more promising, for we have the advocate inside the Cabinet. , Mr. Parr has honestly won his place in the Government, and estimated by his past performances, he will demonstrate to the country that he will make a capable ,and vigorous Minister. ' . . Settlement of the long-standing coal trouble, which has overshadowed tt every other industrial dispute by reason of its magnitude, and the im- ■« ’ . / portance of the industry, has greatly cleared the labour atmosphere. But there are still some clouds about, for the waterside workers have placed in the hands of their employers' a series of demands which represent so big an advance on preceding claims that there is bound to be some difficulty over a solution. It . has been said of the large shipowning firms interested in the New Zealand overseas trade that they are not much concerned about what the watersider gets, so long as they get their ships away on time. Complaint has been made that they concede so much to the militant unions for the sake of peace that the internal industries of the country suffer by comparison with the attractions for labour on the waterfront. This dispute will again bring into prominence the old controversy over the relative value of skilled and unskilled labour. Machinery, by reducing the demands on skilled handicraft, has reduced the difference between the demands on the skilled and unskilled worker, but in trades where apprentices are still necessary there is a serious dearth of them, and it is ■ contended that the ultimate wag's is not sufficient to tempt young men into the trained occupations. Approximately, the skilled 'worker obtains 25 per cent, more wages than the unskilled. Another advantage for the craftsman is greater continuity of employment, though under present conditions this is not a factor which counts. ft is admitted that watersiders, by reason of their casual employment, and (not by any means the least factor) their excellent trade union organisation, draw a _ higher wage when at work. than many of the highly skilled tradesmen. Some of the latter are strongly criticising the results of conciliation and arbitration as a consequence. It is high time that the problem of providing a minimum and a guaranteed job to the watersider is taken in hand. Once.

Skilled versus Unskilled.

the Prime Minister expressed himself in favour of control of . wharf labour, with a guaranteed minimum to the regular staff, and the New Zealand Harbour Boards’ Association approved the principle in August, 1918. Yet nothing has been done, and the whole industrial-situation is prejudiced by waterfront turmoil. Are there no constructive statesmen in New Zealand? Many years ago we held the record for experiments, but we now seem quite content to bask in an atmosphere of “leave well alone” though all is not well, and a very perplexing problem regarding relative rates of wages is drifting further away from a satisfactory solution. We hear with satisfaction that many lines of imported building material are coming to hand in fair quantities, and that prices, though not weakening, are not showing a tendency to further soar to impossible heights. But the building industry is not clear of its troubles, for the supply of locallyproduced materials continues to be short and erratic. The settlement of the coal troubles will soon, we hope, -dispose of the cement shortage,' though considerable loss has been occasioned through a number of large contracts being held lip temporarily by lack of material. As ferro-concrete construction is now so general, it is good to know that iron bars for reinforcement are being sold by the Australian ironworks at £22 to £23 per ton. English rods are slightly dearer. There are the supplies, at reasonable prices, within fifteen hundred miles of the Dominion, but a freight of 50/- per ton has to be paid to get them here. This is an extortion for so short a voyage compared with the English trin and its freight. . Apparently it is useless approaching the Board of Trade in the hope of securing better freights from Newcastle, for shipping rings have this country in the hollow of their capacious hands, while we talk, and talk, of State steamers, but do nothing. State competition is the practicable wav of ending monopoly, and New Zealand should not be afraid of' the experiment. Sir Richard Gregory \vho is mainly responsible for organising the British Scientific Products Exhibition in Lon- ■ don makes this claim on behalf of the national value of the man of science : ii is not generally understood how the work at British universities and other institutions for higher training is bound up with national welfare. When necessity demanded, our men of science showed that in every direction, they could devise means of offence and defence superior to those of the foe against whom our armies had to contend. The way in which, during the war, the universities faced problems of an entirely novel character, and concentrated attention upon them until solutions were reached, is an earnest of what they can accomplish for industry in times of peace; and it is to be Hoped that this factor of progress will continue to play an important part in national life. -- * ■

Building Supplies.

Science in Industry.