FACE THE FACTS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 26, 26 October 1920, Page 10

FACE THE FACTS

e: r When tho sev?r.il unions meet, as suggested by the "Wellington Trades and Labour Council, to consider wh»t iresh demands they should make upon the employers in consequence of tho increased price of butter, might I, as " worker who cannot possibly link up with them or' reap any advantage from the increased payments 'they may possibly exact, \sugg'est that they should spend half i" hour or so considering the case of the other fellow," who is paying all the time without hope of possible redress? J am but one of thousands in this country w ho are being made to pay for ihe exactions of waterside workers, coal ininers, nil - wivmcn carpenter?, bricklayers, ond tlie whole "box 'of tricks" for which the Trades and labour Council .takes upon t c f to speak. Who aro pacing.burdens won the public that are becoming unbearable. Because the retail price of butter has lieen increased, the wateisuto worker thinks he is entitled to an 1 "' erased pnvmont of at least hal -a-crown nor week, as, with his household, he claims to be consuming flvo pounds of U week. The tramway men, going one better, are to ask for■ another threepence per hour to lie added to the minimum wage they are entitled to wE Under that arrangement they would have th«ir minimum wage inFrom -El 6?. to £1 Wb. per workXek the trains are now being run at » lass that means a further in fares, which I submit the workeis of [his citv are ill-Prepared to i ori nf tlie trams providing a cheap tm of hansit"vhie.h was the jnsMU PRtion for their introduction in the first E thev are becoming a luxury to |S'e like _ mvself whose incomes arc St Is Ct it ni™ hifih timo tho workers faced Hie facts? If *very class of the com;l\- chirks the responsibility the "■""has "» orl w ; ,U1( ! r h d tW shall escape, what possible chance En." Herald" to-day T saw the iiidgmeiit of the Board of "Trade, over whch Tmlee Beeby presides, in regard to Hie "bash: wage," which has been increased

to a. minimum of ,£t ss. per week (a shilling less than our tramway men are receiving) with a minimum payment of Is. 9{d. per liour and 149. 2d. per day. According to reliablo authority, that increase represents an Additional burden of •815,000,000 per annum and a rise in tho cost of living of 15 per cent., which the people of New South Wales will bo called upon to pay, while the Statu Treasurer says that, fio far as tho Stato employees are concerned, 110 will have to provido another million sterling per annum, which can only bo met out of taxation. We hear a great deal of talk about the high cost of living in New Zealand, but, Sir, I find that our war

increases in tho food groups, which aro ho only groups in whicli it impossible :o arrive at, tho facts us officially recorded by tho Federal Statistician (Mr. 'r, IJ. Knibbs) and by Mr. Malcolm b'rnscr, our own Statistician, so as to make a firtr comparison. Me very considerably 1 nder tho similar increase? in the Commonwealth, the increase, in the Commonwealth being 86.9 per cent, to June 30 (tho latest date for which the figures are available), whilo ours is only 71.40 per cent, up to Aug,lst 31. It happens also that the war increases have been greater in Queensland than 111 an.» other State, viz., 9A.G per cent. The greater portion of this rise has, too, occurred under tho Labour Government which came into office in .Tune, 1915, since which date the. cost of living has risen by 56 per cent., Mr. G. H. Knibbs's "index numbers" showing a rise in the "food groups" of from 1371 in June, 1915, to 2100 in June, 1920. , That, however, by the way. Coming back ho!ue,l understand ! hat last year the consumption of butter in New Zealand was approximately 220,000cwt.. for which the consumer paid latterly Is. per lb. Wo have now to pay 2s. 3d., an extra sixpence per lb. Mr. Malcolm Fraser places the "nu'an" population of New Zealand for tho year at 1,136,390, which works out at alwut 211b. per head per annum. The extra charge per capiui thus placed upon' the consumers by the additional payment of Gd. per lb. to tho producer is 10s. Gd. per annum,' and to •jscape or compensate for this ono cla«s of workers are demanding an extra half-, crown per week, whilo another wants threepence per hour! And tho public— the long-suffering public—as usual have to pay.—l am, etc., EQUALITY OF SACRIFICE. Wellington, October 23, 1920.