THE OHUTU STRIKE

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3662, 28 December 1920, Page 4

THE OHUTU STRIKE

(To The Editor.) Sir, —We are sorry that our attention was not earlier drawn to your second article insisting that some devilish influence was at woa'k at Ohutu Bo£ Mill previous to the strike taking place, and fakt that influence came in the form of Bolsheviks from outside the works; hence our reply is late. To some extent, we agree with , you here, but let us say definitely that this evil influence was not brought to bear on us by Labour Union officials, but was brought out I from Taibape fortnightly in the form i of accounts from the tradespeople of that town) which continually agitat{ed us. We endeavoured to pass the • increased cost of living on to the employers in as gentle and friendly a manner as we could, but they refused to accept the responsibility. Since the strike baa occurred, we have thoroughly investigated and made comparisons between 1913 and 1920 prices, and send the results to you for publication. The table shows the difference in prices of commodities as between 1913 and 1920 xesective(y as follows

Men’s tailor-made Suits. . 100/' £l4 0/0 Total £l6 12/65 £46 If we assume that wages were ,10/ a day in 1913, it would take a man working for that wage approximately 33 days to earn the cost of the above-mentioned articles; but with the average wage to-day set down at 15/, a man will require to work 61 days to earn the £46 required to buy the above-mentioned goods in a similar quantity. Or, to look at the question from another point of view, 1 If a man is to receive sufficient wages to enable him to buy the goods mentioned in 33 days, as he coulfl do in 1913, then his wages would require to be £46 divided by 33 which is approximately 27/10 per day. It will be seen that the above figures show that the list of goods mentioned have fncreased about 175 per cent, since 1913, and that they differ with those of the Government Statistician; but this is explained by pointing out that w r e have considered nothing hut those things that a family must have while the general statistics include j many o ( lltho*e articles termed luxuries, and which have not j incro I ' l ed in price to the same as have the absolute necessities; therefore it will be seen that while it is > i quite possible that the cost of living for those who include luxuries may have increased only 83 per cent, (which we understand are last figures quoted), we have proved beyond doubt that the cost of living to the ' family wdxo have the bare necessities only has increased 175 per cent. Before taking action we looked into the sawmilling industry and found that it could well afford to pay an increase in wages which will he shown by the following statements: Previous to the white pine timber (the class the Box Company deals in) was sold at 6/ per 100. If we 1 take the lowest wages paid at that time to be 9/ a day, it will be seen that the money value of 150 feet would just pay one man’s wages for one day’s work. Now, if a man Were to receive the money value of 150 feet of the same class of timber today he would receive 42/ a day. Since the selling prices is 28/ per 100 feet, we would be quite satisfied with much less than this amount, as we quite agree that the owners should have a fair profit on their in-

vestment. For fu||her proof we would point out that some time ago a section of the timber-workers in the Auckland district were granted an increase of 1/6 a day, and shortly afterwards the owners made application to the Board of Tfade to be allowed- to increas£"fhe selling price by 3/ per 100 feet to provide^'money fo> pay the Increase in wages which was granted. If we figure this- out, wewill get the following results: 22 men are required to work a mill and cut 7000 feet a day. the extra cost to pay 1/6 a day is 33/. The extra money received on output at the increased rate of 3/ a 100 equals 3/ X 10 X 7, or £lO 10/. * The extra profit equals £3O 10/ less 33/, Or £S 17/ on each day's work. This is not too bad as the /result of an increase in wages. To look at this matter another way: If all this money which has been collected from the extra 3/ per 100 feet were divided between the workers (far which purpose it was asked for and granted by the Board Of Trade) it would supply sufficient to give each worker an increase of approximately 9/6 a day. Here, again, we say we hardly expect all this. We ask for a fair thing only, and wo are willing that the owners should make a fair profit, knowing that there are other expenses besides wages. •

Sir, if the public still think we are out of order by striking, we will he pleased to defend our case by means of public addresses; or something in the form of a debate with any public man would give us much pleasure;] and a member of the Welfare I/eaguewould be preferred. THE OHTJTU STRIKERS.

Commodity. 1913 1920 Tea . 1/9 3/6 Butter lb . 1/3 2/3 Bread . 0/8 1/2 Sugar lb 0/2 S 0/7 Baking Powder ’ 17 2/9 Soap a Bok 10/0 25/ Kerosene . 6/ 15/ Oatmeal 251b 4/6 9/6 Bacon 1/1 1/10 Candles > 0/7 1/4 Salt 71bs. 0/9 2/ Starch Pkt. . 2/6 5/ Currants 0/6 1/5 Eaisins 0/7 1/6 Flour 6/9 31/ Matches 2/0 6/ Mutton 0/6 d/s Steak 0/8 0/10 Lamb Qr. •< 4/6 9/6 Sausages 0/5 0/8 M. heaVy boots 19/6 £2 10/0 . Light boots 20/ £2 5/0 Children’s do. 9/6 31/ Dungarees 5/ 13/ Tweed Trousers (slop) ' 16/. 32/6 Shirts 6/0 12/6 Singlets 5/6 12/6 Underpants 5/6 13/ Socks . .1/6 5/ Box Suits 48/6 £8 Trousers (t.m.) 25/0 84/ Boys, Suits 24/ 60/0