RESTRICTIONS ON BUSINESS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22507, 15 September 1938, Page 8

RESTRICTIONS ON BUSINESS

“Halt Must be Galled” ADDRESS BY EMPLOYERS’ PRESIDENT / t “An even more disturbing factor than the increase in wages is the continuous flow of restrictive conditions which have been imposed on business since the reduction in hours and various amendments of the Shops and Offices Act in 1936,” said Mr A. E. Kincaid, president of the Employers’ Association of Canterbury, Westland, and Marlborough, last night in moving the adoption of the annual report, “Increased holidays, restriction on daily hours, meal hours, and provision for accommodation,” he said, “frequently call for a considerable o.utlay of capital as well as increasing costs. This is a phase which seems to be completely ignbred by members of the present Government and, unfortunately, by the Courts of Arbitration. I would add that whereas many of these changes in conditions cause considerable dislocation to employers they are of little material benefit to the workers concerned. I think it can safely fcs claimed that generally speaking the New Zealand employer, apart altogether from the wages issue, is thoughtful of his employees and their daily requirements. “In addition,” Mr Kincaid continued, “the conditions under which employees work are well protected by established clauses in the Factories Act, Shops and Offices Act, and various other statutes, which have existed for the last 15 or 20 years at least, and which safeguard the New Zealand worker perhaps to a greater extent than anywhere else in the world. Yet despite all this we find our businesses continually being subjected to irksome, and I would say in some cases, almost ridiculous restrictions.

"While the Government Statistician’s figures admittedly still show that the increase in wages since 1936 is greater than the increase in' the cost of living, it is an undoubted fact that the purchasing power of wages is decreasing. It is imperative that the increases in cost, which industry has had to face in the last two or three years, must be passed on to the consumer, ultimately to be borne, of course, by our export industries, whoso prices cannot be increased. 1 do not want to labour this issue except to express the opinion that tne time has come, if it has not already passed, when a halt musl be called. “Apart from Ihe reductions in hours and increases in wages, the many other conditions which have been altered by legislation and by the Courts of Arb t alien will seriously restrict the ability of our industries to function successfully. If we were able to go on continually increasing our export income, then we might be able to carry the tremendous burden which has been placed upon us. However, ihe general economic position is not such as to be reassuring. Wholesale prices in England have been falling lor the last year. The English Bdhrd of Trade index number reached its peak in July of last year, and has been steadily falling since then, which would indicate that the present is no time for us to be thinking of increasing costs in an exporting country when there is no hope for increases in the price of or total income from our exports ”