A Living Wage

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 196, 17 February 1914, Page 5

A Living Wage

AUSTRALIAN COST OF LIVING ENQUIRY. -IUSTICE HEYDON'S REPORT. JJy Cable-Press Association-Copyright Receiver: 16, 8.50 p.m. Sydney, February 111. Mr. -Justice Heydon has delivered "judgment in the enquiry respecting the -co-it of living and the living wage. After » lengthy review of the advance in rents and other factors which led to the increased cost of living, he declares that a "living wage" must relate to the humblest class of workers. The standard must clearly be his, otherwise there would be as many "living wages" -«» classes, whereas the living wage is the lowest which any male adult wovkw, not licensed as a slow worker, should ■ receive, and is based not on the value of his work but on his requirements .v. * man in a civilised community, which iias 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 •»s follows for Sydney workers: £2 8s weekly, for the average dependent family of four, as against £2 Gs 6d suggested by the Secretary of the Labcr 'Council.