WAGE REDUCTION

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20168, 21 February 1931, Page 20

WAGE REDUCTION

ftI.¥;TAN€E OF LABOUR PROTESTS.

yWMB MINISTER'S REPLY.

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TO DECIDE.

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WELLINGTON, February 20. A deputation representing the Alliance of Labour waited to-day upon the •Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. ! Forbes, to protest against any reduction In wages, especially those of lower paid men. It was claimed that a reduction in the case of men on the lower scale would place an unjust and inequitable burden on their shoulders. The secretary of the Alliance, Mr ,J. Roberts, said the Government's recent declaration had come as a bombtahell. The Arbitration Court, it might 'be taken for granted, would follow the Iffl whieh had been given by ,the Government. If that was so, there would be many workers who would be to meet their obligations in re- . apect of rent and interest, and that would mean that the Government would , nffer. It was all very well to say that the cost of living would oome down; bat rents, insurance, and interest would not come down. There had been some talk of equality of sacrifice'; but the worker who lost 8s a week would suffer more than the higher, paid man. it , would simply mean that he and 8 ■ family would have to go with less food. ipha workers were being made the vie- , tin, of the banking and financial in- . said be bad been told at