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For the cause that Utcha assistance
'Gainst the wrongs that need resistance
For the future in the (distance,
And the good that we can do.
9fe Cmdwra Hunts
WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 1951.
MACHINES FOR THE PRODUCTION LAG
WHEN the Commonwealth Arbitration Court decided in
favour of the 40 hour week, it foresaw that a period of
readjustment would be necessary in which management would
be required to absorb the effects of shorter hours by increased
efficiency and new techniques There can be no question of re-
turning to a longer working week Indeed, it is idle to talk
of i a longer working week when industry cannot get enough
power to work 40 hours and when essential materials are not
available at many points in the production line in all industries.
The job of making the 40 hour week work does belong; to
management, but the greatest obstacle to management achiev-
ing results in Australia is the intrusion of Government with
disastrous results in outstanding cases
The failure of Government to achieve its promised effect
in cases where it has come into collision with production is
largely bound up with the lower sense of responsibility that
has come to pervade public administration When failure occurs,
it is sufficient for some excuse to be brought out and insistence
of orders, even of Parliament, being carried out is forgotten.
The readiest measure of this is the disregard of statutory
obligations on public authorities and Government Departments
to make reports to Parliament The Joint Coal Board recently
produced two annual reports at one stroke and merely excused
the delay by confessing that its accounting system had been
in a mess-a mess so great that an estimated profit on the
operation of its collieries turned out to be a colossal loss
Another example is the residence of the Administration of the
Noitljern>Tenitoiy in the presentation of annual reports of
this important portion of Australia within a reasonable time
of the end of the reporting period In practical results, the
breakdown of the electricity production in New South Wales
illustrates the inefficiency that has entered into public utility
under Government control of various kinds
In one sense, the electricity scandal demonstrates a
major weakness in the Australian economy in its endeavours to
overtake the impact of the 40 hour week In almost every
Australian activity, there is marked deficiency in the equipment
essential for the promotion of greater efficiency in production.
While North America works very well with shorter hours,
Australia is far behind in the face for the reason that it lacks
anything like the same equipment that is at the disposal of
every form of activity in America The result is that in Australia
there is acute wastage of manpower in performing the
simplest operations without the aid of machines While Aus-
tralian factories are abreast of their counterparts elsewhere
in plane and method, transport is generally inefficient in this
country Unfortunately, Government policy in Australia has
placed restriction on imports of machinery and materials essential
for industry, and the time lag in absorbing the effects
of the 40 hour week is thus being lengthily prolonged Labour
saving machines are required in great volume and variety in
the transport and distribution of goods in Australia Even the
slot machine has been denied its place in simplifying the retailing
of many goods which are now laboriously and uneconomically
dispensed
There is occasion for a survey to be made by qualified
industrial, transport, and distributing authorities of the requirements
of industry, trade, and transport in Australia with
a view to improving the knowledge of Governments as to the
steps that should be taken to speed the equipment of Australia
with the tools for making a shorter working week take its
'place" with less strain in daily life The cost of a commission
of this kind would be a public economy
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