ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. xl. 
Mr. P. G. L. Law gave an address upon “‘ Some Impress- 
ions upon the Conditions of Labour as they exist in America 
and Australia.’’ Contrary to anticipation the lecturer had 
found that in the States, education was not as general as 
in Australia; organisation was on the average not any 
better, while efficiency taken all round was lower than 
with us. But there are in America some of the most highly 
efficient and best organised businesses in the world, and 
these are showing the way for the others to follow. 
There are few organised labour troubles, the workers 
take individual action, and in some works the average 
length of service is only six weeks. In 1916, 13,000 men 
were hired in a Pittsburg establishment to keep up a staff 
of 1,700. Organisation, industrial welfare and _ profit- 
sharing are slowly but effectively reducing this great “‘turn- 
over’’ of labour. American employers encourage sugges- 
tions from their employees, and are thus developing the 
constructive faculty which is becoming a trait in the 
national character. 
In the shirt and collar trade, America is ahead in collar- 
making, because they are able to use machinery which 
with our smaller market it would not payto put in. But with 
standardised articles such as shirts, our labour costs are 
less than theirs, and we turn out as many per week although 
we work for 15 hours less. If this can be done with shirts 
it can also be done with other articles, but the crying 
necessity in Australia is to have our articles standardised. 
Why should blankets have blue bands at the ends? The 
custom neither makes for efficiency in their use nor in their 
manufacture. 
The lecture was followed by a discussion in which Messrs. 
LoxLEY MeceittT, F. W. STEEL, NAPIER THOMSON, A. A. 
HAMILTON, A. F. OSBORN and the Chairman took part. 
