24 OCTOBER 1925, Page 2

We think they would be safe in doing so, as

froth the beginning the employers have wisely disclaimed any idea of reducing wages or increasing the hours of work. The most important part of the Report deals with the interchangeability and demarcation of the various trades within the industry. According to trade union custom a member of one trade must not do anything that belongs to another trade. A rivetter, for instance, must not pick up a chisel and remove a bit of wood that is obstructing his work, even though the act would take him only ten seconds, because the use of the chisel belongs to the carpenters' trade. Thereby a really vast amount of time is wasted. The Report says that it is possible to secure greater elasticity without infringing the broad principles of craftsmanship. In other words a doctrine, natural and even sensible in itself, has been pressed to the point of pedantry and folly.