The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, NOV. 9th, 1921 CIVIL SERVANTS AND THER PAY

Hokitika Guardian, 9 November 1921, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, NOV. 9th, 1921 CIVIL SERVANTS AND THER PAY

Ik then- is any truth in the stpry that is going the rounds to the effect that the organisations of the Civil Service have presented an ultimatum to the Government declaring that they will accept no reduction in salaries till the cost of living is correspondingly reamed, then Mr Massey and his colleagues are in an extremely difficult position. We commented the other day upon the significance of the extremists of the Labour Party in the- House of Hepresentativw and the President and Secretary of the Alliance of Labour being honoured guests at a social gathering of the officers of the Post and Telegraph Department, in Wellington, a week or so ago, and in view of what has happened since we are inclined to

t iU< a linin’ M'lium vie" ol lilt* inciilnut limn did linn. Tim nn*mlj»*i's <i, il.i (. ii il S' lvi‘ c .mild lie ■ | 1 1 i l l* "itliin tlii’ii right- in protesting v 'y <tl’<nii’U a.-ain-l .1 it v i .duct inli I" I’.i.v lint ''"V- 'not i,„i”.l din timi in mi in -. \\ In ili'-i i'”l l),r\ "oiil.l I-.' jii-tilii’.l in 'l* > l-'i ii'ii ’’ ’ fnn li.iml l lint tlf \ v .’iiM . n • reduotinn "I I’ii.v "ill".in I- ‘-i""' OWII Mltislll. tilMI "I I' d' il"" I" |" ’ is II sunn'v.’lmt difficult malic. I <■ ivniild imply that tiny "tie l<' In- the j,nines nf tile standnnl :m«l the cost of living. In mu null times there might ibe no very grave object inn to this., lo|)-side<l system of adjusting 'lie magnitude of tile wages to the value id the servien. Itut these are not normal times l>\ a very long wav indeed. Nearly all private employers have been eoni]M'lled to lessen their expenditure upon wages. Their only alternative t> . reducing tile number of their bands lias been to cut down the rate of pay. This I niaV not be ail economically sound | policy, but ill the ease of many cm- ( plovers it lias bin'll a matter of lie- i oessity. In . these eireiiinstances it seems to us that the members of tlm 1 Civil Service should not lie idler!.: j uncompromising hostility to a tent' ovary readjustment of salaries. Kipialitv . of sacrifice is the very first prineinle , of democrat ie government, and if the j elerk in private employment has to. Kiiliinit to a reduction of salary that j represents his fair share of the horde , j

there is no sound reason wli, t In* mcm- | her of the Civil Service slmold not | do the same. Rut the principle of j equality of sacrifice will not la* hil- J tilled unless tin* reductions proceed oil | <i graduated scale. Our own idea is . that salaries of 6300 a year mid under ! should not be tmu licd it all. aid I hut salaries above that level should he dealt with on a sliding scape, increasing very | rapidly as that oft quoted 63.000 a j year is approached. Of course the ~o't of living should have something to do !

with the readjustment, as it presumably has had to do with the fixing of I wages and salaries by private employers, and in this connection probably ! some alteration is required in tli'e ] preparation of the Government Statis- | tici,'in’s figures. The calculations should ] be based oil tile prices of the neecssar- j ies of life, broadly speaking, and not , oil the prices of luxuries, which ad- | mittedlv have declined on account of j tile inability of an increasing mini- i her of people to buy them. The lot ' of the worker who has to maintain a. family on 64 10s or £5 a week is made no easier hy the fact that fur- | coats and other luxurious apparel are now 50 per cent cheaper than they were two years ago ;