Mr P. Jones (Matamata) said this was a vital question in his congregation. He had been reading the New Testament and could not find anywhere that Christians were to lead gay and giddy lives, but they were to take up their Cross and follow Christ. They were warned against the friendship of the world and against being lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. They could not serve two masters. Sin seemed to have disappeared and Satan gone out of existence, and there was no harm in anything, so why trouble? Christian people were mixing up with the world more than ever, but we did not need to drink with the drunkard in order to help him to a higher life.
The Moderator (the Rev J. Kilpatrick) intervened to point out that the Assembly was not discussing dancing, but whether the committee should be granted another year in which to prepare a statement. Mr Jones said he wished to move "That ... this Assembly discourages dancing in our halls and the raising of funds by the same, for the schemes of our Church.” ("Hear, hear.")
The Moderator pointed out that the amendment was practically the recommendation already before the Assembly to reaffirm the resolution of last Assembly. That resolution did what Mr Jones asked. Mr Jones said the church at Matamata was waiting the answer of the Assembly whether there was to be dancing in their halls or not.
Accidents at work
The statistics show a toll of 1979 factory accidents, so defined, in the Dominion in 1924. In nine cases the results were fatal, in 80 cases permanent partial disability, and in 1890 cases temporary disability resulted. An examination of the duration of incapacity in cases of temporary disability showed the total period of incapacity in 1781 cases to be 34,275 calendar days, an average of over 19 days per accident. In 1605 instances the amount of compensation, including medical expenses, was ascertainable, the aggregate sum being £24,475, or a little over £15 per accident. The results lead to the conclusion that in the factory not all hours nor all days are attended with quite the same hazards. The gist of the matter would appear to be that there are occasions when the worker among machinery is not mentally or physically so well keyed up to his task as usual, that the standard of his efficiency may at times fall below par, with consequent increase of risk to himself. There would appear to be a definite causal relation, it is observed, between the frequency of accidents and the degree of the workers’ fatigue.
And a conclusion based on the hours of the day at which accidents most frequently occur is seemingly borne out by a scrutiny of the distribution of accidents among the days of the week. The finding is that the frequency of factory accidents is high on Mondays, at a minimum on Tuesdays, and increases thereafter until the end of the week. The high figure for Mondays may be ascribed, it is suggested, to the fact that after the week-end spell both the worker and the machinery take some time to become adjusted to the job again. — ODT, 13.11.1925
Compiled by Peter Dowden
