P. AND T. SALARIES

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10616, 15 June 1920, Page 6

P. AND T. SALARIES

CONFERENCE DEPUTATION THE PREMIER'S REPLY—"VERY LITTLE BETWEEN US." UNREST IN THE SERVICE. *The necessity for an increase in wages and salaries commensurate to tho increase in the cost of living was brought befor© tho Prima Minister (the Right Hon. W. F. Massey) and the Postmas-ter-General (the Hon. J. G. Coates) yesterday afternoon by a large and representative deputation from the New Zealand Conference of Post and Telegraph Officers' Association now sitting in Wellington. Mr W. R. Morris (Publio Service Commissioner) and Mr R. B>. iMorris (Secretary to the Post and Telegraph Department) were pre=sent with the Ministers.

Mr Mckenzie (president) stated that the association considered that it was entitled to something definite in tho way of an inoroaso of salaries and wages. From the reply to their letter, however, they judged that a. bonus was intended.

The Prime Minister: Wasn't it a bonus you asked for beforo?

Mr Mckenzio: No. The Prime Minister: Are you quito ■sure ?

Mr McKeuzie: Yes. The president added that there was a feeling of resentment amongst the members of the Post and Telegraph Association that their case should be governed by the decision of the tribunals which were investigating the cases of the three railway societies. Mr Massev stated that nothing of the kind was intended. i Mr McKenzie: We feel that we are entitled to a separate tribunal. THREATS NOT WANTED.

Mr H. E. Combs (secretary to the P. and T. Association) stated that tho claims made to the Prime Minister iu May last had since been endorsed by branches and general meetings throughout the Dominion. Constitutional action, so far - as the Post and Telegraph service was concerned, was on its trial. There was a feeling amongst their members that constitutional action had tailed. The Prime Minister : Now look here, slr Combs, it is just as well that we should understand each other. Do not attempt .anything in the way of a threat, either implied or direct. I am here to listen to your views, and I do not want threats.

n No threat was intended, replied Mr Co-.ibs. But his statement as to the feeling in the service was no exaggeration.

Mr Massey. said that he himself had Eonie idea of the feeling in the service. Mr Combs, briefly summarising the representations inado to the Prime Minister in May, stated that tho association adhered to its demand for an adjustment, accordins to tho increase in the cost of Jiving, on the basic wage of £165 in 1914. That wage, tho asEooiation held, should bo increased if the cost of living rose. Mr Massey: And if it fell? Mr Combs: We would be prepared to accept a. proportional reduction. Mr Massey: That, to my mind, is the dilferenco between a bonus and a salary. Mr Combs hold that the increase should bo regairded as Balary. The cost of the increases, he suggested, could be met by additional taxation on the unimproved values of land, now £275,000,000, which had risen some 100 millions sterling in the past nine years; or by a levy, in tho shape of an export tax or otherwise, on the greatly increased returns from primary products during tho war; or, thirdly, by increased Post and Telegraph charges. There was at present, he pointed out, a great loss on many branches of the services. Press telegrams, for example, must be sent at an annual loss of some £60,000 a year. The Prime Minister: You think theso losses should be recouped? Mr Combs: Yes. Investigations should be made, he added, in regard to tho difference between the landed cost and the retail price of imported clothing. GOVERNMENT'S DECISION. Replying to tho deputation, the Prime Minister complimented Mr Cofnbs on the manner in which he had stated the association's case. Ho liked, he said, to meet,men who put their case in a businesslike way, as then Ministers knew exactly where they stood and what they had to answer. After listening to Mr Combs ho had como to the conclusion that there was very little between _ them. If an, increase was adjustable it was, he held, more in the way of a. bonus than a salary. In the railway service, of course, wages and salaries wore fixed by Act of Parliament, and bonuses were apart from that. What , the Government had decided upon was j this:—First of all Ministers acknowledged, an the- had done all along, that in case- of an increase in the cost of living there must bo an increase in wages and salaries, especially so far as the lower-paid men were concerned. They were waiting now for the reports 'from the railway tribunals. They had been larger than he had expected; but ho was not going to find fault with them because it was proper that the whole position should bo gone into thoroughly. "When" they got the reports of the tribunals, ho -proposed to set up a board to deal with them—the boa,rd to consist of the Public Service Commissioner, the head of the Postal Department, the Secretary to the Treasury, the General Manager for Railways, and himself; alonjr with, perhaps, two or three other Ministers. That board would take tho whole question into consideration, and he wanted the deputation to understand that no department would be allowed to benefit ait the expense of other departments. No department would be placed at a ■disadvantage. TO BE SATISFACTORY; MUST BE SATISFIED. Tho Government proposed to treat them equally; and Ministers hoped that what would bo done would give satisfaction: becauco Jhey knew perfectly well that if tho Public Service wnii to'be satisfactory "it must bo lat-'sfied. With regard to the point as between bonuses and salaries, he wanted to be perfectly clear whether thev were willing that the salaries should be revised in case of a fall in the cost of living. Mr Combs: We are. Mr Mnssey said that that, to his mind, was the difference between bonuses and salaries, and if they said they were satisfied on that point, then ho had nothing more to say just ■ there, and there- wao verv little between them. But- this .ill-round in-«>-.aaj.fi.—it had practically como to

that —was a very big thing, and lie could not put it all on the Consolidated Fund. INCREASED POSTAL RATES, ETC. So far as tho railways were concerned, there must be an increase in freights and fares; and, in regard to tho Post Office, there would have to be increases in postage and telegraph rates. Ho knew that would not bo sufficient, but the Consolidated Fund would probably bo ablo to stand tho balance; and, "ho hoped, without further increase in taxation. An increase in the land tax on unimproved values had been suggested, and figures had been quoted as to the increase that had taken place in recent-years; but ho would point out that that unimproved value very often included the cost of improvements; and behind the increase in tho valuation of land, if they looked up the returns, they would find t-hero wore some one hundred and fifty million pounds' worth of mortgages. Tn conclusion, he expressed tho hope that what he had explained to them in regard to tho intentions of the Government would sat'sfy them, and that there would be much less friction in tho future. P. AND T. SALARIES.

The inoieases granted, continued Mr Massey, would date from April Ist, last and ho thought they would not have to wait long for the desired adjustment. He wished to have it completed before Parliament met. If tho Post and Telegraph serrico was not satisfied with tho salary schedules when they wero produced, tho delegates could wait on him again and place their objections before him.