WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 January 1931, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE WAGES PROBLEM

FLAX WORKERS PBOTEST

(Special Correspondent),

WELLINGTON, December 30.

It is not surprising that the flax workers at their meeting in Shannon yesterday decided not to accept wages which had been reduced by the Arbitration Court by 33 1-3 per cent While the Unemployment Board is paying fourteen shillings a day to men who have been out of w.ork, it must seem to the flax cutter, 4 at any rate a little incongruous that he for much harder work, should receive only 10s a day. The men themselves declare this is the largest cut in wages ever effected in the Dominion under any decree of the Arbitration Court, and so far their assertion remains unchallenged. The mills, however, have been running at a loss during the last two years owing to continued declines in prices and it is contended by the owners that a substantial reduction in wages is absolutely necessary to keep them going. If this is the pass they have reached the Arbitration Court will find it difficult to assist either of the parties.

A SUGGESTION. The “Dominion” this morning makes a suggestion for the relief of the situation. “Some hundreds of workers have been thrown out of employment,” is says, “and the country has in consequence been 1 faced with the loss of a valuable export trade connection. Had the principle which generally exempts the agricultural and pastoral industries been observed in this particular case, the flaxmillers would have been enabled to make the adjustments necessary for carrying on, the losses incurred during the past two years would not have been so great, the mills would have been kept going, and there would have been , much less unemployment and distress.” This need not he regarded as a sinister attack upon the existing law. Both the owners and workers are suffering from the closing of the mills, and the longer they are closed the greater will be the loss of, the parties concerned. A drop of one third .in wages may be an unparalleled cut, but even so it is better than idleness.

STILL DECLINING. 1 The preliminary accounts of the Railway Department for the four weeks erided on December 6 show a decline in expenditure amounting to £76 003, as compared with savings of £32,874 in August, £41,386 iri September, £63,842 in October and £BO,977 in November,, giving a total of £295,082 for the five months with the returns from subsidiary services still to come it. Unfortunately the' decline in revenue during the five months just mentioned has exceeded the decline in expenditure. The efforts of the Minister-**# Railways and the General Manager to stimulate traffic have been well maintained, but during the four weeks-ended: on December 6 the revenue from mails and parcels declined approximately by £4OOO, from passenger traffic by £28,000 and from goods traffic by £38,000 The officials continue to-attribute these declines in traffic to the road opposition and it would b® idle to look for the leakage elsewhere, but the easy remedy for the trouble has not yet been discovered.

THE BOOKMAKERS. The story cabled from Sydney yesterday to the effect that the 10 pel cent, tax upon winning bets will drive the bookmakers away from the racecourses it) Australia is not obtaining much credence here. “It may be, a leading sportsman stated here today, “that the Sydney bookmaker will alter their methods in some way that will serve their clients and baffle the politicians. The only real danger to to the community is that the politicians in their eagerness to obtain revenue will lead to horses being elminated from the racecourses and the gambling carried on amidst less desirable surroundings.” This, of course, was more or less a jest, but the evstablishment of a scheme to divert betting money from Australia to New Zealand for gambling purposes suggests that the idea of dispensing with racehorses is not wholly unborn even in this country, where we all claim to be more or less sportsmen. The name of even a retired member of Parliament has been associated with" siich a scheme.