STANDARD WAGE INQUIRY ENDS AT AUCKLAND

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 190, 28 August 1937, Page 7

STANDARD WAGE INQUIRY ENDS AT AUCKLAND

-Press Association.)

COURT ADDRESSED Decision Will Be Given as Soon as Possible j * . , CRITICAL SURVEYS

(By Telegraph-

AUCKLAND, Last JNight. The standaxd wages inquiry by the Arbitration Court xvas concluded to-day, After taking two: and a-half days to make tkeir submissions, the employer?'' and employees' representatatives oecupied the whole of tho sitting to-da^ u'ith reading voluminous analyses .and critical surveys, adding many thousands of u'ords to the bulky. volumes of evidenco and reports tendered. . Mr Justipe O'Regan intimated at the clo.se of the heaxing that the Court 's finding xvould be pronounced as soon as possible. Summarising the ease for the ,employers, Mr D. I. MaeDonald, secretary of the Canterbury Employers Association, said that Professor Tocker had clearly demonstrated that the vaiiations in the income from overseas from the sale of exports were he main reasons'for prosperity and depression When the country vras- prosperous it could affofd to pay higher wages. When it was depressed it would nol afford the shrne rate and wages had to be lowered if the workers were to remain employed. In 1926-28 wages were high and rieing, he continued, but unemploy ment increased. Wages remained high until 1931, yet the most severe depression New Zealand had known developed. He admitted that the worker should enjoy the highest standard , of living he could seeure, but said it depended upon what he could biiy with the proceeds of his labour. It depend ed upon the prices of food he cpnsuined as ivell as the wages he earne'd.* - Retail Prices Rise History in New Zealand slxowed thal rising wages always were assoeiatcd with the rising cost of living, and convcrsely. There had been many instances where higher wages had beeD cancelled by higher living costs, and tho worker was no better oll". In tho past year the iudex of retail prices had. risen stceply following the rise in wages made about a year ago. Labour costs formed a largo part of production, and consequently were refiected in tho prices of the food the worker must buy High costs might mean the ruin of many produce!'? whose goods were sold in overseas marlcots, sinco such goods had to be sold at eompetitive prices, said Mr McDonalg. Goods also produceU for loeal consumption must be ccmpetitive with imported goods, and if local costs were higher New Zealand producers would be at a disadvantage. They would be unable to sell.at prices whieh repaid costs, and production would have to be reduced. This would create industrial depression and unemployment. Wages were fixed by what the etnployers could afford to pay for labour , which depended upon the prices secured for the products of that labour. This, in tuxn, depended upon what tho consumers would pay for the pToducts sold in open competition with those of, other countxies. Far-reaching Importance. Mr McDonald said that the Court 's decision would be one of far-reaching importance. The influeuce of the court and its decisions was wider than cver bofore ,as awards applied to a larger immher of workers and a greater part ot' .the country's industry than ever before. If wages were set at a high level in prosperous times, it might become difficult to make the adjustmenth which would be necessary should prosperity give way to depression. "I submit that althoug'h the country has about returned to the pre-depre&-sion level of income and prosperity," concluded Mr McDonald, "it has not gone beyond that point, and is not in a position to pay wages higher than those at present in forco. Wbile a further improvement is still possible, it would be very unsafe to assume that it will occur, for' world affairs, which artect our markets and the prices oi our produce so closely, are in a very unstable and insecure position. " Workers' Olalms, •'I submit that we have proved by argument and ovidence that a subslautial increaso in wages rates and tlie payment of a regular weekly wage would not only benefit the worker, but would also give the desircd impulse to production, distribution and trade generally,"' said Mr Roberts, in course of his survey upon the need for a higher standard wage. Low wage ratos, benct'ited only Llio "money lendcr, large laud-holdet and pfofit hunters generally." Mr Roberts continued. Siinilarly reduced purchasiug powcr resti'ictcd productiou in New Zealand, lowered the inconioa of sliopkoepers and those who rendered services, while it compcllcd tliousauds ot workers and their familios to exist 011 a fodder basis of living. The econoimc conditions of tlio country a fow years ago were regarded as dejieudent solely upon the price of commodities overseas, he said, and as w;agos were fixed on the eeonomic conditions 6f the country, there was always a teadeney to lower the standard of life of New Zealand people to tlie level of those countries where the Dominion's oxportable products were sold. Tbis was the ''swan song" of orthodox ecouomists. Productive Capacity A few years ago, he said, the Labour movement had proved that the general eeonomic conditons of the country wero determined by the productive capacity Oi' the people, and not by price levels in other countries. No doubt Mr Mae donald had intended to convince 1:he Court that tlie 1914 rates for unskilied labour were quite satisfaetory, he continued, and that rates to be fixed should be based upon the standard of life of New Zealand workers at that time.

when it was dustry since absurd -to suggest that the standard of living should renlain stationary. . "Th'e -industrial. Mstpxy of New Zealand in Uhe . past -25 ^ "years prdves thht low wages ..have reStricted industrial expansion,.- and in , the end brought the -country. ~to; the. verge of bankruptcy, ■ he said. ■ ''The Court should see' to it that there should not be a return of those- evil; days.. The country is prosperouk td-'day,. comparctt tmn a few yea.rs ago. The Court Cibuld make „it 'still .ihojre .prosperous by making' a new . depar.ture in the policy of wage fixationr ahd, "by,, increasing the purcliasing-powef ,of the wage and salarxed workei's 0f this country." Mr Roberts claimed that no evi-' deiice had. been Submitted against substantial "wage incfeases for skilled "and semi-slalle'd ' workers, or against any "section of the woikers being paid a Aveekly- wage) > Manual workers Were as mucij. ehtitled to an assurcd weekly income ag the pxofessional xnan, ,employer, or ariy' other "section of tho community. "