is considerable. In the instance just quoted, 6,000 kroner a year was to be saved. The new glasshouses were generally of a type to allow for ventilation all along the roof, and the new buildings will contain ample welfare accommodation. The offices were simple, but very well equipped. There was no question of any Government assistance for building. There do not seem to be any building regulations, at least none which is regarded as irksome.
Current repairs are exempt from taxation. A depreciation rate of 4 per cent. is allowed. Expenditure on furnaces or plant, which would be worn out in three years or less, is allowed as a pro rata expense in each current year and is not taxable. For profits up to 100,000 kroner made by a firm in 1946, the maximum limit of tax was 42 per cent. (For private individuals with incomes up to 20,000 kroner, taxation in 1946 did not exceed 33 per cent.)
RAW MATERIALS
The industry as a whole is very short of soda; one estimate of average stocks was two months, with no immediate prospect of renewal.
Sand, which pre-war was obtained from France and Germany, is now obtained from home sources, and was said to be fairly free from iron (0.08 per cent.).
For abrasive processes, American carborundum is preferred to Norwegian. Swedish cutting stones are used, made by a company subsidiary to Hoganas.
TRANSPORT
Transport may be comparatively expensive due to the great distances. Timber may be floated down to the works, but often has to be carried, and other raw materials, as well as finished glass, have to be transported long distances by road and rail.
LABOUR
There is the same difficulty as in England in recruiting boys, who can learn a trade more quickly in the nearby furniture factories. No new methods seem to have been tried to encourage boys to enter the industry apart from a general movement to provide welfare facilities in the works, but there were some plans for an Apprenticeship Scheme, with contracts binding employer and boy, and some additional training to be given to the boys at a school to be set up in Vaxjo, In June, 1946, however, these plans seemed rather nebulous. At the same time, the Trade Union was trying to improve the wages of boys and other lower-paid groups in the factories.
There seemed to be considerable suspicion among decorators especially that after the recent trend towards austerity designs there was no security for their sons in this trade.
There are few women employed, though women are used occasionally in painting and applying stencils and frequently for packing.
Workers are attracted to, and no doubt held in, the industry by the system of tied houses, that is, houses built by the firm and let at cheap rates to the employee. Until 1943 the employee paid no rent, but received the living accommodation entirely as payment in kind. These houses are well built and attractive, but if a workman dies or has to cease work his family has to move. The system seems, however, to be taken as a matter of course.
Time worked is 8 effective hours 6 days a week, and the amount of overtime which the men may be asked to work is limited by law. The law enforces 12 days paid holiday in the year, to be between June and September, unless
|