GOVERNMENT EMPLOY 137 



presses. For them it is suggested a system of 

 rewards might be instituted ; a bonus to be given 

 for any invention resulting in an important 

 economy or appreciably saving time, in repairs 

 of ships or in construction : a smaller bonus to be 

 given for a perfect time-sheet with unexception- 

 able work. But would this lead to favouritism ? 

 The system is already in vogue in the navy and 

 the army. There, for certain qualities, a man 

 becomes a petty officer or a non-commissioned 

 officer, as the case may be, or he receives a rise 

 in his rate of working pay. It has never been 

 said that in either service the system has 

 worked ill. 



The employer in this case being the Govern- 

 ment of the nation, antagonism between workmen 

 and employer there is none. Hence it might be 

 supposed unnecessary to offer any rewards at all 

 to dockyard hands. But there is a reason. 

 Suppose the work conditions of artisans else- 

 where to be greatly improved, then all artisans 

 will desire to share those work conditions, and 

 Government dockyards might be deserted. To 

 avoid so serious a result it seems necessary to 

 place before dockyard hands some improvement 

 in their own prospects. If this be done with 

 judgment, the nation loses nothing; for better, 

 quicker work is cheaply bought in exchange for 

 a little money, when the question at issue is the 

 rapidity with which a great warship can be 

 turned out. 



There is a class of workmen, the men in the 

 building trades, who practise the division of 



