Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 32.djvu/239

203 A NEW PROVINCE FOR LAW AND ORDER 203 to the hours except for those men who were employed at or about the homestead; and in the case of the latter class the hours were fixed at fifty- two with the general assent of employers .^^ In connection with the subject of hours I may mention two curious facts tending to show a positive increase in efiiciency and in results arising from well-regulated pauses in muscular exertion. In some industries — that of the waterside workers, for instance — "smokos" have for many years been permitted in Australian practice. I have been unable to find any analogue in America or in Europe. A "smoko" is a cessation for a short rest period in a rim of work, a pause usually given without reduction of pay, and experienced managers and foremen have assured me that the "smoko" actually helps the working results. The men work with "more heart." They take a "snack" or a "puU" at their pipes. With the consent of the employers the court prescribed two night "smokos" of half an hour each; but as a day "srooko" would in many ports interfere with the work of the carters the matter of day "smoko" was left to the discretion of the employers.^^ Another fact is that in shearing operations where there are piecework rates, so much per hundred sheep, the employers actually sought for more pauses in the work than the union. Yet the employers' in- terest is clearly on the side of brief time of shearing; for the over- head expenses and the wages of men on daily wage run on all the. time. The union asked for two four-hour runs of work between 8 A. M. and 5:30, with one meal between runs, instead of six runs with two meals and three "smokes" interposed between 6 a. m. and 6 P. M. The Court prescribed as requested by the employers.^^ The case of the waterside workers is a case of payment by time, and yet the employers prefer to allow a pause, a deduction from the time sold to them. The other case is one of payment by result, piecework. Piecework tends to speed, but tempts to imperfect workmanship; time-work tends to proper care but tempts to slow- ness. In certain metropolitan abattoirs the manager prefers time- work with a tally of fifty-nine sheep per day, although in export meat works the average tally is eighty to one hundred a day.^^ In '1 Pastoralists, 11 Com. Arb. (1917). ^ Waterside workers, 9 Com. Arb. 293, 300, 317 (1915). ^ Pastoralists, 11 Com. Arb. (1917). ^ Butchers, 10 Com. Arb. 491 (1916).