WAGES AND WORK.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3340, 19 November 1919, Page 4

WAGES AND WORK.

} It must be admitted that workers generally are not receiving remunerationpproportionatc to the cost of livl°ing; there are some classes of labour in which the demand is very much 'greater than the supply, and in such -cases unpreeedently high‘WageS are lbeing paid to get men at all. In this [fact there lies a serious menace to all small traders, businessmen and manuifacturers; for it is seen that in indus‘tries where there is a considerable labour Surplus unions are approaching the Arbitration Court to have wages ibrougllt up to the highest level all round. Unions want for men in inldustries where there is a surplus of !le.bour the same high wages as paid [in cases Where competitive wages are loffering owing to there not being enough men to go round. In indus[tries where labour is the chief cost of lproduction, the employer would, in ‘some cases, have to double» the prices lat present charged if the increased lwages asked for are conceded by the feourt. If the public refused to ‘buy at the doubled rate the employer would have to dismiss many of his workmen, or close down and go out of business. Some people may think we are drawing the long bow; that we are straining facts for the purpose of making a case, that is not so. We will‘ give an actual case, of which anyone who cares to call at our oflice can have fulle.-:.t verif.-cation. In a certain industry wages were increzised in 1917 by a. bonus of five shillings per week; ‘the Court was approached in March ‘1919 when a further bonus of seven and sixpence a week was added; now_, employers in that industry are notified that an appeal will be made to the Court on Friday, to have :1. further £2 2;.-'6 a Week added to all other wages and bonuses previously awarded. To say that such an award would amount to confiscation of all small and moderate businesses in that industry is an urideniable fact. Several have had to close down and others reduce hands and output owing to war increase;~_'. of material, and it is a perfectly safe estimate to state that should such an award be made hundreds of men will have to ‘be thrown out of. work, in cou.ntry districts, and prices of the commodity sold will have to be enormously increased as well. One of the reasons given for asking for an increase of is the flourishing condition of.‘ the particular business, while as a. matter of irrefutable fact there is no business in country districts that has suffered more as a result of increases in cost of everything used and purchased than that under discussion. S_imilar businesses in cities a.nd the larger towns are‘ flourishing, but in the larger provincial ztowns it is not flourishing to an extent Comparable with what is ‘bxperienced in cities where the chief commodity is being sold at prices which are an unwarranted. impost on other businesses which are compelled to purchase it, and which does disas’U‘oUSlY add to the cost of essential articles of every day life. It would be ‘as well. if Unions would realise that city firms in this particular industry can, in some instances at least, go on watering capital time after time to make dividends appear reasonable in the eyes of the public, while principals in country firms, who can only secure a tenth the price for what they have to offer, are not nlble to earn as much D9l‘ week as they are compelled 10 D3)’ some of the men they employ-‘ They have kept their men through. the war while making, in some cases, an; actual loss, a.nd in others no profit, as, their returns to the Tax Department, will verify, and if a further £2 2/6 is to be paid per week per man in wages, ‘chen they must certainly close down, altogether or discharge twothirds thei men ihorreinploy, and limit their 01111-1 put to something like onethird thoyf have at present. If it is found 1-ea-l Smlable tqgive the £2 2/6 a week] referred to additional, then it must

follow that ‘men in grocers, clrapers and other shops must have a similar increase. In fact human reasoning faculties are completely lost in trying to fathom the ultimate of such economic madness. Is the State hopelessly incapable of finding some basis for improvcment