ON -WAGES AND THE HOURS OF LABOUR. 479 
Secrion III. As regards Capital. 
(1) In so far as the net produce is diminished a check will be given 
to the accumulation of capital. It is true that the motives or causes that 
lead to saving rather than to spending are very various, and that the 
addition to capital made in any one year is but a small portion of the 
total stock of the nation; nevertheless the amount of new wealth 
produced in a year is a material factor in determining how much can be 
saved in such year. 
(2) Capital will tend to avoid undertakings where the reduction of 
hours lengthens the time of completion. A railway ora canal yields no 
return until constructed, and hence the length of time occupied by con- 
struction is a very material circumstance in determining whether the 
capital will be advanced or not. 
Where interest is paid on capital out of capital during the construc- 
tion of the works any extension of time will necessitate a corresponding 
increase in the capital required, just as any contraction of such time will 
reduce the capital required,! 
Hence we reach the conclusion that the reduction in the hours of 
labour may check the accumulation of capital and cause at the same 
time an increased demand for it, and so raise the rate of interest. <A rise 
in the rate of interest does not of necessity imply a reduction in wages; 
but where it is preceded by and is due to a reduction in the annual net 
produce in the state, it implies a fall in the shares taken by producers 
other than capitalists, and in manufacturing industry, apart from 
capitalists, labourers form the great bulk of the producers. 
This line of argument must not be pressed too far, as a decrease in the 
supply of capital may be counteracted by an increase in its efficiency. 
On the Manchester Ship Canal the work proceeds by night as well as by 
day, and that withont any increase in the requisite machinery. In mines 
itis Immaterial, as far as the work is concerned, at what hour the miner 
descends ; and the system of double shifts has been long known in Corn- 
wall, whilst in Durham and Northumberland treble shifts are usually 
adopted. But there are very important limits to the extent to which the 
efficiency of capital can be improved in this way :— 
(1) Fixed capital, such as machinery, is not a necessity in all trades. 
(2) In some tfades the requisite conditions do not exist. For 
instance, an industry may require different classes of labour, and a supply 
of one of these classes may not be forthcoming for night work as well as 
for day work. It is a noteworthy fact that whilst the Northumber- 
land and Durham adult miners work a treble shift of less than eight 
hours, the boys in the mines work two shifts of over ten hours 
each,” 
(8) The adoption of a double shift, say of eight hours each, instead 
of one shift of say ten hours or twelve hours, will increase production 
more than the reduction of hours diminished production, and as such a 
? The shareholders in the Manchester Ship Canal Company receive interest during 
the construction of the canal, hence the engineer has orders to make the canal 
within the shortest time possible. 
* It is difficult to see how to defend a methcd of working which imposes longer 
hours in a mine upon boys than upon grown-up men, 
