HE PORT ECONOMICS

investigations, both official and private, conferences and
discussions without number between leaders and repre-
sentatives of both sides, but the matter still remains, in
this country, in an unsatisfactory condition. This will
hardly be the occasion for much surprise when the complex
factors entering into the problem have been stated.

Apart from a small percentage of trained operatives,
principally engaged in a specialized capacity, and
privileged bodies, such as lightermen and watermen, the
great bulk of port labour is of an unskilled kind, not
calling for any particular training, and only requiring a
stout physique, muscular fitness, and a modicum of
intelligence. Men who are unfitted for other occupations
seem to drift into dock work as naturally as the drainage
system of a country finds its way to the lowest level.

This would not be so bad in itself, were it not accom-
panied by the fact that dockwork is of an extremely casual
type, and even under normal, not to say favourable,
conditions, the supply of labour must necessarily exceed
the demand. Many classes of goods, such as fruit and
timber, are seasonal, that is to say, they arrive in large
quantities, sufficient even to cause congestion, during a
short period, and thereafter, for many months, there is
stagnation, with practically no movement at all. The
soft wood trade from Scandinavian countries ceases with
the advent of winter, when the Baltic is closed by ice, and
ports in other parts of the world are equally affected by
climatic conditions.

Not only are many trades seasonal, but there are all
the uncertainties due to the incidence of bad weather,
the inability of ships to keep schedule time, the fluctuations
of markets, the irregularity of sailings, and a score of
intruding influences which go to render the demand for
dock labour exceedingly capricious and fitful.

An element of cautious policy also enters into the matter.
The employer of labour, whether an important corporation
maintaining a large establishment, or a minor contractor