WAGES AND PRICES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2011, 19 March 1914, Page 4

WAGES AND PRICES.

A labovr deputiition ivhicfi waited upon the- I'hime Misisibu during Ms recent visit to Nelson raado rbforcneo to an extremely difficult \nahkm, of which no satisfactory sohi-' tion has yet been discovered.' Mft, J iNemJi, secretary of the Labourers' 1 Union, ch'cw Mr. Massey'b attontiou ! to the increase in the cost, of. living, | and femarked that prices of com* ! raoditios wont tip overy time there ■ \v.;is nu'incrcaso in wages. 'Mu. j Massky was requosteci to fo.cUfy this! mattoi- if h« possibly could, tlw ruiHftciy lu-iiifj Uuvt the ("Jov- | wnmiiufc rlmiiilcl "fi.v tho cost of liv-i iitg," Tlic (liiiltigim which followed' is tifciiledly inl.niM'stiug; I Jifr. Mwssey: Do von think it passil)!?? | .Mr. Ingram: li is jrawiiilc to fix thai rale of tt-ngps: it is jw-ssibic Iβ fix the i lii'icc of cOHinioditics. i Mr. Slftssey: H ivai tried lunuhwls of i ypiir.-i :ißu, btii v-ithoist nic.«.w. , Mr. Lug-ram : Will you'endeavour to (i'.v aftsf Ret «ji»f! iHOirtis? 'Sir. sla.Kcy: "1 will promise that it

will be gone into, but I hold out: very litllo hope of yotir suggestion biing I>fo-vidc-il for by law." Tlte suggestion hml occurred lu thorn-amis of ])»j>tc in days gone by, bwt it had not been given effect k>. Tlte tliflStnlty *as to find a solution of t>!? problem.

It is to ba feared that Mr. Inojiaji has set the Piumk Mikistee an impossible task. Ho might as well have asked for legislation to enable people to fall into the soft without' getting wet. Ey«ry iner-ease in wages involves an increAse in the cost of production, and reduces Uμ mai , - gin of pi-oSfc, and if tlte process continues prices must go tip or production will eventually become unpfofitabk, and therefore erase. If th« i Government, commenced fixing prices, where could it stop? The.price of bread, for instance, depends »poa the price of flour, which hi tain depends upon the prke of whsafc. which in turn depends upon the yield of ■ the crops and the price of wheat in the markets of the world. How can the Government regukte the vie Id of the crops or control the markets of the outside world ? It is also quite plain that wool, butter, checso, leather, fan, sugar, and other necessaries of life cannot be niaifc cheaper or tlearef beyond a very limited oxtent, and that only 'temporarily. Tha cost of these commodities depends upon supply and deraand r and is fixed by the markets of the world, for producers will naturally sell their goads where they can jretthe best prices for them, just as (he workman sells his labour to the best advantage. Moreover, tire producer will not produce at all unless ho &vn do so nt # reasonable profit, it would be almost, as easy to fix ihc weather by statute, as to fix prices ni commodities by Act of Parliament. Increased efficinncy and increased production at a given Cost are U.c high roads to cheaper living. The tendency to-day, however, is higher, wages and shorter hours, which ordinarily means lesseneci output; althouisrh this in a great many cases has been eosntorAct&d by iftiforovcd machinery. Many hundreds of years ■■ ago the lijapfinoft Aujsbum? sj-ack*--tiniouism ."compulsory for life, ancij whatever legislation "emild tie to pre-1 vent free, competition was done, and all ended in a. hopeless wreck. The huge system of compulsion was completed, acco-rdinj* to- iPitoffissoft Flikoeks Pemie, by "the vast socialist decree o.{ Diocletian, regulating all prices and wages thi'wis-kmt the Empire. . A maximum value was fixed JW every kind of foctfi—grain, wine, oil, meat, fish, vcrotables, and fruit , . . Meanwhile the wages of labourers, of artisans, and of pfojFcssions were all equally regulated, so that the best- jpsn could never have tlwir superior' ability rewarded, The nrkfts of skins aiui bather, of all clothm.tr, and of. jewellery were ■likewise defined." Tfto power behind this eirhpratn p!an was istoyraoiis, bat it : failed because the scheme was contrary to human nature; and tfe attempt to cari'.v j,t out was one of the,factors which bron.ghl about the fall of -cine, of the greatest Empires the world has seen,