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Inspectoritis.

2nd August 1917, Page 5
2nd August 1917
Page 5
Page 5, 2nd August 1917 — Inspectoritis.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Contributed by "The Inspector."

, Try as one may to find diversified subjects of interest for one's periodic seribblings in the columns of THE Ocatartadraa Murcia, it is a task of considerable

• diffieuIty to light upon titles that will lend themselves to• one's pen and that at the 'same time will reflect, little if any of wartime conditions. All of us writing,' unless we be novelists or blatant humourists, find ourselves unwillingly condemned to punctuate our paragraphs with war-time references. If it were as great a journalistic faux pas to use adverbially "in

• war time " or " after the war," as it is, for some reason quite unknown. to me, to finish a sentence with

• a preposition or to split an infinitive, most of us would ".write ourselves mit" in a fortnight. No, we -must accept the inevitable Once again, and at the risk of boring our readers, we must, for the time being, at any rate,, be content to write of conditions as they Are or as they will be, with occasional back references

• to what has been. * *

Half an hour's chat with any one of the leading spirits of our industry, overstrained and anxious as so many of them are, invariably. suggests a round dozen of subjects all of great Moment .to the -corn:anerciaI vehicle and its present and future importance. One day last, week I had managed to secure the friendly attention of the works manager of one Of our biggest concerns during lunch tithe, and I took the opportunity to draw, himout. He has heaps of pluck, boundless energy, a wide outlook on th.e great problems of the day and a handful of grievances. As .is• not unusual—I had aliiaost written 'as is the fashion "--his growls were exclusively with regard to that elusive entity, "the Government,' but just 'when I caught him he was particularly obsessed with one particular branch of departmental actiVity. He had a very bad attack of subjective " inspectoritis." Let me -endeavour to recall his particular growl_ on

this subject in his own words. * * * * *

"II things go much further in my own works, I -shall have to give up managing and devote the whole time to the reception of inspectors and the filling up of their confounded departmental forms. No, I've no complaint whatever of what I call our regular inppectors. Taking them as a whole they're an excellent lot of chaps, keen as mustard, with a first-hand knowledge of their jobs and a fund of commonsense, and, what is more important, they're out to do the best thing every time to help the war on to an early 'Conclusion. ...These men are the regular inspectors of

• our output, and they help ea far more than they hinder us, in any number of ways. They're under the Ministry now, though in earlier days they came from the War Office.

" If these inspectors were our only visitors, we -should most of us be quite happy. But as ,Governinent Departments increase and multiply—and I sup • pose until all the London hotels are commandeered they will continue to do so, inspectors of all colours, shapes, sizes and sexes will in greater hordes swarm

clown upon us. We shall soon have more p6ople to .seewhat we are doing than we have to do it. You may believe me or believe me not, as you please, 'when, I tell you that, busy man as I am, I am frequently detained escorting self-sufficient departmental representatives round the works for two or three hours out of my crowded day. Short of detailang .someone of my slat equally conversant with the ins and outs of our organization as 'receptionist,' there appears DO alternative. And I repeat it. will be a lot worse before it gets better.

"Just now I am having frequent visits from various departments, military and labour particularly, with regard to new combings out, but if it isn't. that its Munitions Works Department, Controlled Establishment Department, Welfare Department, Allies Corn-. missioners, and a dozen and one other sections of public servica. A number Of these' visitors know next to nothing of what they are talking about, and manyof them are veritable jacks in office. Remember that

I "still have the usual trade-union, Insurance , Factory Act, gas and water inspectors, boiler inspectors, workmen's compensation people, and rate collectors as in peace time. The whole thing is overdone. The' whole of it or most of it might be carried out by our regular ' -inspectors all under one control—barring, perhaps, the tax collector." He finished with a smile.

' Thisnot the first complaint of the sort haae had. ne manufacturer told me recently of a number of resident inspectors who are quartered on him. Another spoke of the difficulty of holding contracts from various Government Departments and having all their various inspectors down at the same time, all claiming, or at least expecting, preferential attention. I was told a tale of a dear old dug-out admiral,or something of the sort, who, noticing an old lathe standing idle and being told it could not tackle shell work of standard sizes, promised to see if he could not get it employed on shells ,{)f a size to fit the lathe—presumably the guns were to be altered to suit. Andthere. are many more tales as amusing.

I gravely fear that the position of inspectors for such jabs as welfare work, and -other indefinite activities, is one which is given not infrequently to well-meaning people who are bursting to " do something for their country "—at a reasonable salary, but who have next to no capacity but that of nosing into other people's business. The post of inspector is one which is a, very attractive one, I know, to lots of people who see`achance'of employment in war time, but who, were competition keener, would inevitably . be condemned to continued unemployment.

The consideration which should weigh with the authorities, however, is that important men with great war-time industrial . responsibilities are nowadays bitterly. complaining of the distraction entailed by the too-frequent .visits of too many inspeetorS, each and all claiming the attention of "a principal." That, added. to the growing demands for form filling and the preparation of innumerable returns, leave little enough time for the conduct 0 regular business routine. Jf inspeetoritis be allowed to grow and each new department be left at liberty to engage a host of new travelling representatives, factory activities will.be'very seriously impaired,. The

most useful suggestion I can make is that some Government Department appoints me—at a reasonable salary, -to be Inspector of Inspectors.


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