PUBLIC SERVICE PAY

Southland Times, Issue 18842, 7 June 1920, Page 6

PUBLIC SERVICE PAY

ASSOCIATION REQUESTS. The report a deputation from the Public Service" Association which met the Prime Minister is published in the Public Service Journal. The deputation asked that, payment of the bonus recently granted to the Service should not he restricted to officers in receipt of less than £SOO. Mr Massey said this was the first time they had been able to go up to £SOO. Mr Wright said that the £45 increment given as a cost of living increase of salaries was limited to salaries up to £4OO. It was urged that the officers who were not receiving the increases deserved more consideration.

The deputation urged that the £45 increment granted to the Service generally was quite inadequate. They asked that the basic wage, estimated by the Public Service Commissioner in 1914 at £165, should be increased by the percentage of increase that had been accepted by the Board of Trade, 62 per cent., less the increased salary of £43 that had already been granted, and £ls bonus. They would then be in the same position as prior to the war, but they were not asking that that should be a permanent increase. They recognised that it was probable that there would be a decrease in prices, and, of course, in the cost of living, and they would agree that there should be a rateable decrease on that salary, or salary plus bonus, in proportion to the decrease in the cost of living. The Public Service Act provided for a rateable increase or decrease, and they hoped that that provision would be applied to them at the present time, thus placing them in the economic position in which they were before the war. It was agreed that the Public Service should have a share in prosperity as well as in adversity. The public servant had no reserve to meet the increased expenditure, and was sinking in the economic scale. The Prime Minister pointed to the great obligations resting on the State, and the difficulty of finding money to meet all claims.

A mention by Mr Wright of the basic wage in New South Woles led Mr Massey to say: T am prepared to put you all on the Arbi ration Court.” Mr Millar: We will consider that.

The deputation also mentioned travelling allowances for the general service, and Mr Massey admitted that 10s a day was not adequate. He had put up the police travelling allowance, and was not aware that (he allowance for the general service had not been adjusted. The Prime Minister stated at the close of the interview that he would see that the police got the increase recently granted to other sections of the Service.