OCR WAGES BILL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 89, 3 April 1908, Page 2

OCR WAGES BILL.

\ ivlurii, to band from the Rcgistrar(icneral, gives some interesting miorm-

ation concerning tlie wage-earnings o the people of New Zealand. It is base, on the last census, taken in 1900- me l are in the country 227,083 men an. youth* working for wages, ami the aye ra«e is £Ol per year. The profussior al D cl.isses are best paid, each one engag cd in work of this nature receiving a: average of £144 per annum. J.nc "' dustrial workers (presumably factory hands) and the agricultural, pastnrsi, ,„!,„,,, 1. a „d other primary producer [onu the largest classes. _ the detai in this section are instructive. m •" S.V'OO males (of whom a large nuiithe are youths) are engaged in nidustna work; they average £O4 per annul, and earn in the aggregate A.8,02..,MK The primary producers employ _«>•*,'•"- hands .it aii average wage of £7:! pe year, and a total of £4,(103,(100. Coin niercial pursuits employ -20,003 wage earners, who receive on an average £ll per year, and £3,301.400 per annum r the ;i;."regate. Those engaged in domes tic seTvicc number 0701, and receive C 7 a year each on the average. Femaj. wage-earners in the Dominion total fi:i, im. and receive an average wage of £42 The remuneration for women is highest in the professional classes ( £O7), and

lowest amongst the primary producer--I £2:2). Naturally domestic service en "aires a large proportion of the women— SrsiW who" earn ,£3l yearly. Tile factory workers total 15,311 i: ami the averxv wito is UO a year. These fignrcs show the wages of Now Zealand to lie lii"her than they are in any other eounirv in the world- Kveu with the cost of living taken into consideration, no country in the world compares with \ew Zealand as a desirable |>laee fo , v the working man- Hisof a truth the "Working man's paradise," and, \ icwed from am point, it is a condition "I atfu.ii-!. that no one with the best ir.U-i----,-ts of his country at heart would can-