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will not be time for proper Parliamentary examination of this
complex and far reaching measure. The Government's comprehensive
Bill on the subject will therefore be deferred until
1962-63 Session of Parliament. Since this legislation will be
introduced in the autumn of 1962, no action will be taken
in the meantime to implement the Offices Act, 1960."
During 1961, however, the Shops Act, 1950, has been enforced
as can be seen in the schedule mentioned in this report.
The introduction into this country of the self-service shop
has meant a radical change in shopping habits and in the environment
of the shop worker.
Self-service shops are in a sense "Factories." The worker
is no longer seen serving goods, save the few who mingle with
the customers replenishing shelves and bins with merchandise
obtained from the storage rooms and cashiers like sentries in their
boxes operating automatic cash registers.
In the large self-service stores the rooms at the rear of, or
above, the premises (normally out of bounds to the customer)
have a similarity to a mechanised industry, many workers
operating sausage making machines, mincers, bacon slicers, band
saws controlled by workers especially trained for this purpose,
waste paper and cardboard packing machines on the principal
of an assembly line in a factory, selecting, weighing, wrapping,
packing and pricing the commodities. There are telephones and
indicator lights linking each floor and department. here is the
calling of some wanted person over the loudspeaker system,
employees shouting above the noise of clanging lift gates, trolley
cars, conveyor belts, refrigerator motors and air extra: ing plants.
The style of "shop assistant" is no longer a feature of this
business; there is no sales talk or the occasional chat with the
customer. He is now a unit performing a task re ated many
times in a working day. Staff facilities are generally good but
one wonders if such conditions alone are sufficient to compensate
the change in tempo of this new class of shop worker.
The small self-service shop has also introduced some tricky
problems. Many of these businesses have been converted from
original premises of the conventional style and require a larger
staff to meet the demand attributed to self-service sales. In order
to obtain the maximum accommodation of sales space there is
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