PUBLIC TO PAY AGAIN

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2126, 18 April 1914, Page 6

PUBLIC TO PAY AGAIN

EFFECT OF HIGH WAGES

SHIPPING HATES msELY TO ' KISE

(Bγ lVslessra-pii.—Pices Association.) Dunedin, April 17. Representative shipping men admit ihnt the rates of pay lor waterside work at Australian anil Tasnianinii parts, .is fixed by .%. Justice Jiiggins at Melbourne, will affect very seriously all intercolonial shipping. They will also ••licet to a lessor tkgreo oversea steamers engaged in tho service* with tlic Commonwealth,

The now, award carries a Biibstmiiiai increase on tho pay of waterside workers at Commonwealth ports. Undertho old conditions the ordinary rate for work on tho wharves at ail Common* wealth ports, except Sydney, was Is. M. an hour, while* th<> overtime rato was '2S: IJd. an hour. Ttas Sydney rates wore respectively Is. Gd. jiud 2s. 3d. an hour, and under tho new award, tho rates -ficscrally will be Is. Del.. ordinary and 2s. 7Sd. overtime, with special rates for tropical ports and for coaling at Melbourne and , Hobart. In ordinary circumstances tho waterside worker will reeoivo. for an -eight-hour day Is. If tho waterside worker obtains' three hours' overtime in addition to his ordinary day's work his wag&s will b<; £1 Is. 91d. It is understood tSuat tho »ew award also contains conditions of eroEsfa.yjHant which will eppfeciaWy increase title cost of working ships iil the Atistratiaii trade. ;

The ijffcct of fte iww award must, itis bfiiieved, come lions* to ..ijhe public in an indirect way in tho niSir future. The cost of iitbFea.ses to waterside workers will, it h estimated, rtfii into over. £150,000 par annum to the. shipping I companies cencertjod. In addition to ['that increase there is tho prospect of further increases in respeet to t?>» &e- ---| niaftds in AustraJia of tho cooks ail'J. stewards a.nd tho Australian 'Masters' and,- Officers' Gwld. It.appears impossible }ust now to estimate' tho',actual increase that must be. imposed fon freights and fares to mcefc tlio inercased esuonditure, but it is Most cortaiji that in tiie iieajf fiitefo tnpso cortiftercial rates will at fcnst be adjusi«tT!iiv pri>. portion, to the fcStra outlay.- . .Tho new awnrd is,'it'is" understood, ' o/perative- fot five jears.