Second Edition. THE COST OF LIVING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 40, 17 February 1914, Page 6

Second Edition. THE COST OF LIVING.

AND A "LIVING" WAGE [By JSlkOThic TuiißOßAPji—Copyright} £United Pb<Bß Association.] Sydney, February 16. ■Mr Justice Heydon has delivered judgment in the enquiry re&pecting the cost of living and the living, wage. ■ After a lengthy review of the advance in rents and other factors which led ji to he increased cost of living, be declares that a "living wage" nuwfc relate to-the humblest class of woikers. The standard must clearly be his, otherwise there would be as wages'' • as classes, whereas the "living wage" is the lowest vhich any male adult worker, not licenstd as a-slow worker, should receive, awl is based not on the value of his work but on his requirements as a man in fi. civilised community, which has resolved that, so far as laws can do it, "'competition shall no longer be allowed to crush him into "sweating" conditions. Judge Heydon fixes the living wages as follows for Sydney workers: £2 8s weekly, for the average dependent iamily of four, as against £2 6s 6d suggested by the Secretary of the Labor Council. THE RISE AND FALL. "LIVING" WAGE DEFINED. (Received 12.30 p.m.) ■ Sydney, February 17. Justice Ley don's report declares I that to make the lowest wage always the living wage would be to debar the manual worker (who in an immense .majority of cases must remain a manual worker all his life) from any possible improvement in his position. His wage might go up or down, but only in strict agreement with the increase or diminution of his expenses, so that really'it would always be the same. This would not be fair. He should .have his share in prosperous times because he was still contributing the same towards the work of the community; therefore, in good times he "should get more than a living wage. The living wage (£2 8s) is based on a family of four, composed of the parents and two'children under the age of fourteen, who are living in a house of three rooms, for which rent of 12s was allowed. 5 The children over fourteen, he Would be earning their own living "and should not be provided for in a living wage." The general exover and above the rent, food, and groceries were estimated at 14s weekly.' He recommends that the lowest wage J for light labour be 8s 6d, for ordinary labor 8s 9d, and for heavy labor 9s. A- living wage, states Justice Heydon-," should rise*'and fall according' to the general table of the Commonwealth statistics as to the variation in the p'urchfsing.power of a sovereign. - ,tUtt'W *■'!'.■ ■■ ' '' : " ■ *'."* ■-'