WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 31 January 1922, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE RETRENCHMENT BILL. ITS OPERATION. SPECIAL TO GUARDIAN. WELLINGTON, Jan 27. Though, there has been much talk,during the week insid® and outside cw the House concerning the Public Revenue Adjustment Bill, popularly known as the Retrenchment Bill, there still seems to be in many quarters a good deal of misunderstanding as to the - essential principles of the measure. Even Mr Massey, who has been required to carry a vast amount of detailed in- . formation in his head, has occasionally lapsed int osomewhat loose' expressions in regard to increments, advances, increases, bonuses and so forth that have ended to add to the general confusion. In -the House,, for instance, he has repeatedly referred to the of £45 to salaries in 1918 and the cost of living bonus of £SO in 1920 as if they affected all civil servants that participated in the payments in precisely tre same way and to tne same amount. As a master of fact, however, the £45 ad- ; vancq was graduated from £ls to £70., while the !£SO bonus began at £2O for ■ the lower paid employees and jumped ; to the full £SO on a salary of £215 a ! year being reached. i ‘ WAR ADVANCES.

Then there is much misapprehension as to what has happened to the salaries of civil servants since 1914. Previous to the war juniors entered the service at.a salary of £SO a year, and progressed by increments, of £ls a year - till at the end of thirteen years, showing no special ability and following the usual course, they received £220 a, year.

In 1919 juniors began at £65 a year and wlere able to reach a salary 1 of '£27o at the- end of their twelfth year. In 1920 the junior’s beginning salary was raised by the cost of living bonus to £BS and the gradations 1 carried the maximum salary of the class to £320, including the full cost of living bonus. The minimum salary for married men in the Service is now £234 15s, equal to 15s a daiy or £4 10s per six day week, and it is presumed this minimum will be maintained under the readjustment provided 'by the Retrenchment Bill. The recognition of this principle was one of the few, concessions Mr Massey made during the passages of the Bill through the House.. THE HIGHER SALARIES. Speaking generally, the salaries paid in the Civil Service are not excessive.

There are 17,676 single men and women and 8.240 married drawing salaries of £3OO or under and only fifty or sixty drawing salaries of over £IOOO. But there lia-ve been constant demands in the House for larger deductions from the big salaries in keeping with the principle of “equality of sacrifice.’’ Mr Massey hafe resisted these on the grounds that the recipients of the lusher salaries did not receive the cost of" living bonus and are liable to the exactions of the largely increased income tax.. Here he is on fairly _ solid ground, but he should have mentioned that between 1914 and 1921 the of the Secretary of the- Treasury wfis , advanced from £975 to £1250, of the * Commissioner of Taxes from £650 to £1250 of the Assistant Secretary of the Post. Office from £750 to £IOOO, and of _ the Manager Of the State Fire Office from £6OO to £IOOO. REDUCTION AND TAXATION.

In considering this aspect of the retrenchment scheme, however, it is only fair to remember that the higher paid civil servants contribute very substantially too other revenue of the eountry by direct taxation. The State employee left with £3OO a year will escape income tax altogether-. The recipient of £350 ?. year will pay £2 10s, of £450, £7 10s, of £550, £l2 10s, of £650, £2O, of £744, £23, of £B2B, £57, of £9lO, £65, of £990. £74, and of £IOBO,- £B4. This will mean taking reduction of salary and taxation into account that the £3OO salary will contribute 14.3 per cent to the revenue the £4OO, 13.0; the £SOO, 11.5; the £6OO, 10.4; the £7OO 10.0; the £BOO, 9.8; the £9OO, 12.1; the £IOOO, 15.5; the £llOO 16.7; and the £I2OO, 17.0. If contributions by way of taxation can Jbb included in the same category as reductions in income, then there has been some,approach to equality of sacrifice. But on this point, of course, there will be wide differences of opinion. Probably many of the lower paid Civil. Servants would regard the payment of income tax at the present rate a very desirable experience.