Former great Northern Territory News editor making emphatic point
The economic grind and Jim’s disenchantment with school combined to make him leave at the age of 14. Fortunately, while still at school , he had made the acquaintance of a remarkable man, Pat Martin, an early exponent of time and movement studies. A “mathematical wizard” and humanist, Martin was in his early twenties , and he and Jim got along well. It is not known how they came to meet , but Jim’s sister ,Mary ,recalled that she had been a babysitter for the Martins. A quietly spoken Irishman, Martin told Jim he would like him to work in a new industrial psychology department he was about to open in C & E. Morton Pty. Ltd., a huge canning works on East India Dock Road, Mill Wall, London, where they canned fish, meat, jams and also produced a wide range of confectionery , including acid drops.
Morton’s wanted a bonus system introduced similar to the one devised by Frenchman Charles Eugene Bedaux which gained notoriety as an exploiter of the workforce. In America the Bedaux technique had substantially increased output by offering workers a bonus payment for greater production . It became a method of weeding out slower workers, and there was much union suspicion about the time and movement study techniques from across the Atlantic. Jim said he believed the distrust of the Bedaux system was responsible for Australian trade unions banning all bonus systems in the late l930s.
At a wage of two shillings and sixpence a week , Jim went to work for Martin in the cannery . Men and women in the vast works were suspicious about Martin , his time and movement studies and the young men, including Jim, who worked for him.
According to Jim, Martin firmly believed that his mathematical variations on the Bedaux system would give the workers a greater share in the company’s profits. Martin explained to the workers -he was a great speaker, “but not a used car type”- that while the aim was to increase productivity, it would not be done at the expense of jobs. He gave an undertaking that workers who could not reach the production norm would be given more suitable jobs and not be fired. It was agreed the study should go ahead on trial for some months.
So Jim, complete with a stopwatch and clipboard , went to work as a time and movement observer in a confectionary packing section. He noted that girls on the production line were on their feet 10 hours a day. The monotonous work involved taking jars or bottles from a production line, laying them on a bench, sticking on labels, then placing them back on the conveyor belt. Because the girls and women were on their feet so long , they suffered from sore legs and extreme fatigue.
Morton’s wanted a bonus system introduced similar to the one devised by Frenchman Charles Eugene Bedaux which gained notoriety as an exploiter of the workforce. In America the Bedaux technique had substantially increased output by offering workers a bonus payment for greater production . It became a method of weeding out slower workers, and there was much union suspicion about the time and movement study techniques from across the Atlantic. Jim said he believed the distrust of the Bedaux system was responsible for Australian trade unions banning all bonus systems in the late l930s.
At a wage of two shillings and sixpence a week , Jim went to work for Martin in the cannery . Men and women in the vast works were suspicious about Martin , his time and movement studies and the young men, including Jim, who worked for him.
According to Jim, Martin firmly believed that his mathematical variations on the Bedaux system would give the workers a greater share in the company’s profits. Martin explained to the workers -he was a great speaker, “but not a used car type”- that while the aim was to increase productivity, it would not be done at the expense of jobs. He gave an undertaking that workers who could not reach the production norm would be given more suitable jobs and not be fired. It was agreed the study should go ahead on trial for some months.
So Jim, complete with a stopwatch and clipboard , went to work as a time and movement observer in a confectionary packing section. He noted that girls on the production line were on their feet 10 hours a day. The monotonous work involved taking jars or bottles from a production line, laying them on a bench, sticking on labels, then placing them back on the conveyor belt. Because the girls and women were on their feet so long , they suffered from sore legs and extreme fatigue.
Jim told Martin the staff should have adjustable chairs to sit on to take the weight off their legs . He also pointed out the process of taking a container from a production belt to be labelled consumed a large amount of time . As a result of his suggestions and observations, chairs were supplied, the production line was adjusted to make labelling easier and faster , resulting in increased production .
What is more, the girls received a bit more pay. Some of them showed their appreciation by offering to take gawky Jim behind the chocolate box stack for a quick cuddle . He was too shy to avail himself of the offers by the saucy London lasses. Jim was given a bonus payment for his work and his wage went up to seven shillings and sixpence a week.
As he cycled to work he observed the grubby surroundings . His income helped his family in those tough times. Martin influenced Jim’s thinking as he often had him at home discussing working conditions, workers ’ pay and enlightened industrial psychology.
Despite the interesting and rewarding work, Jim wanted to move on . The grime of London , which he described as a nauseating place , and the poverty of the people bore down heavily on him . One of the abiding memories of London was the stench from glue factories where the workers , overcome by the putrid smell, rushed outside to vomit , and then returned to the fetid interiors.
His longing to leave developed into a hatred for London and what it did to people who lived in the sprawling city. Tension at home with his father added to the desire to get away. The seductive colonies beckoned. He still had this overwhelming feeling to be a farmer or an agricultural worker : “ I had a mad desire to milk cows, ride horses and plough fields. I hated London- this filthy, smog -filled , poverty- ridden bugger of a place.”
After deciding that he would “flee ” to either New Zealand or Australia , he made inquiries and found that it was sometimes possible to work your passage to these distant meccas . However, he was told that the colonies required that you had six pounds ($12) in your pocket when you landed there . That was a lot of money in those days .
Martin readily provided Jim with a glowing reference in the hope that he could find employment in the colonies in the field of industrial psychology. Nobody was able to inform him if industrial psychology was even used in NZ or Australia , still he was prepared to give it go.
Before Jim left the cannery, Martin arranged a meeting with the boss of Morton’s , hoping that he might even contribute some money for a passage out. However, the head man delivered a lecture for about half an hour during which he never mentioned money and warned that the colonies were rough places . Honesty and the virtue of hard work were emphasised.
Jim’s depression at not being able to raise funds lifted when a rich relative , Uncle Joshua Cornelius , who part –owned or had shares in some Welsh coalmines, asked to see him. “ Uncle Corny ” ,whose name was mentioned in hushed tones in the Bowditch household because of his wealth, lived in a mansion near Blackheath . Jim hurried to his well stocked fireside full of expectations. Uncle Corny, a Jew ,was married to a sister of Jim’s father .
Uncle Corny opened proceedings with another lengthy lecture which warned about bad women, keeping your nose clean and the necessity to work hard. Jim’s heart began to thump when dear Uncle Corny put his hand in his pocket... and pulled out a mere five shillings (50c) . This was much less than he had hoped to receive. It fell to Jim’s maternal grandfather , the man after whom he had been named, to provide the necessary cash to enable Jim to muster the money for a passage to a new life. It was not ingratitude that made Jim sign the necessary papers for his trip in the name of James Frederick Bowditch instead of Frederick James Bowditch. Everybody knew him as Jim , and he really did not like the idea of being called Fred.
What is more, the girls received a bit more pay. Some of them showed their appreciation by offering to take gawky Jim behind the chocolate box stack for a quick cuddle . He was too shy to avail himself of the offers by the saucy London lasses. Jim was given a bonus payment for his work and his wage went up to seven shillings and sixpence a week.
As he cycled to work he observed the grubby surroundings . His income helped his family in those tough times. Martin influenced Jim’s thinking as he often had him at home discussing working conditions, workers ’ pay and enlightened industrial psychology.
Despite the interesting and rewarding work, Jim wanted to move on . The grime of London , which he described as a nauseating place , and the poverty of the people bore down heavily on him . One of the abiding memories of London was the stench from glue factories where the workers , overcome by the putrid smell, rushed outside to vomit , and then returned to the fetid interiors.
His longing to leave developed into a hatred for London and what it did to people who lived in the sprawling city. Tension at home with his father added to the desire to get away. The seductive colonies beckoned. He still had this overwhelming feeling to be a farmer or an agricultural worker : “ I had a mad desire to milk cows, ride horses and plough fields. I hated London- this filthy, smog -filled , poverty- ridden bugger of a place.”
After deciding that he would “flee ” to either New Zealand or Australia , he made inquiries and found that it was sometimes possible to work your passage to these distant meccas . However, he was told that the colonies required that you had six pounds ($12) in your pocket when you landed there . That was a lot of money in those days .
Martin readily provided Jim with a glowing reference in the hope that he could find employment in the colonies in the field of industrial psychology. Nobody was able to inform him if industrial psychology was even used in NZ or Australia , still he was prepared to give it go.
Before Jim left the cannery, Martin arranged a meeting with the boss of Morton’s , hoping that he might even contribute some money for a passage out. However, the head man delivered a lecture for about half an hour during which he never mentioned money and warned that the colonies were rough places . Honesty and the virtue of hard work were emphasised.
Jim’s depression at not being able to raise funds lifted when a rich relative , Uncle Joshua Cornelius , who part –owned or had shares in some Welsh coalmines, asked to see him. “ Uncle Corny ” ,whose name was mentioned in hushed tones in the Bowditch household because of his wealth, lived in a mansion near Blackheath . Jim hurried to his well stocked fireside full of expectations. Uncle Corny, a Jew ,was married to a sister of Jim’s father .
Uncle Corny opened proceedings with another lengthy lecture which warned about bad women, keeping your nose clean and the necessity to work hard. Jim’s heart began to thump when dear Uncle Corny put his hand in his pocket... and pulled out a mere five shillings (50c) . This was much less than he had hoped to receive. It fell to Jim’s maternal grandfather , the man after whom he had been named, to provide the necessary cash to enable Jim to muster the money for a passage to a new life. It was not ingratitude that made Jim sign the necessary papers for his trip in the name of James Frederick Bowditch instead of Frederick James Bowditch. Everybody knew him as Jim , and he really did not like the idea of being called Fred.
