The Daily News. SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1919. THE WAGES QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 March 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1919. THE WAGES QUESTION.

Among the numerous failures of the National Government is to 'be counted that connected with the wages problem, and it would seem that the example of the Government has been followed by the Arbitration Court, We are, therefore, faced with the fact that the Government, Parliament, and the Court have all failed to make any satisfactory solution of one of the most acute problems of the day. Previous to the passing of the War Legislation Act of last Session the Court took the view that the workers could not reasonably be asked to be relieved of the whole burden of inconvenience caused by the war, on the principle of equality of sacrifice- Nominal wages were increased, but the real wages' were left slightly lower than before. Under the new Act the Court is awarding wages equal in purchasing power to those granted before the war, taking as a basis the statistician's estimates of the cost of living and the purchasing power of the sovereign. The Court has fcMMd a statement Mcplaining its inter*

pretation o£ the provision made in the legislation of last session for varying awards, and according to that statement the Court considers it has no option but to adjust wages according to, the cost of living. At the same, time the Court is well aware that this process fe bound to continue tlie rise in the cost of living, aa every increase in the cost of production is passed on to the purchaser. Manifestly this ascending wages ladder is no solution of the problem, for like the IFreneh definition of charity it causes more evil than it relieves. It is no part of the business of the Arbitration Court to provide a remedy—that was the duty of the Government and Parliament—hence all that the Court docs is to adjust the wagea schedule in every award that a union applies to have varied. It mav he that when dealing with the standard minimrm wage on the basis of the ftatistie'an'a list of commodities and prices the Court cannot go very far wrong, but when it is a question of dealing wifi wages above that standard, a por-

tion of which is not spent on the commodities named, a nice discrimination arises, but the Court declines to take any step towards solving the problem, so that the crux of the whole matter remains to be dealt with. No one can blame the Court for its attitude in this respect, for although the Act imposed on the Court the duty of varying the awards in the direction indicated above, it did not saddle the Court with the duty of solving the wages question It was a pitiable exhibition on the part of tha Government to shirk the responsibil» ity of framing a businesslike scheme for dealing with the cost of living, for net until that problem is boldly and effectively dealt with will it be possible to settle the wages question on satis» factory line 3. We are forced to adm; 1 there is little hope of the present Parliament doing its duty in this respect, so that the workers can only rely on the Court to afford a certain measure of relief the effect of which ultimately is to aggravate the existing evil.

THE PLIGHT OP THE NURSES. Whilst all organised labor is busily employed in seeking shorter hours and higher wages, hoping by these means to reach the industrial millenium, though ignoring the essential fact that only by greater output and production can the lot of the worker be truly improved, there is one section engaged in the most deserving of vocations that is faring very ill, mainly because it has no organisation to battle for its rights and no articulation, being too absorbed in its own tiring and self-abnegation work. We refer to hospital nurses, who in regard to hours of work, salaries and general treatment are to-day in about the worst position of any section of workers in the Dominion. Anyone who knows anything at all about the subject will readily admit this fact, which is a disgrace to and reflection upon the community. If the average man were j , asked to do the same services, work the same long hours and bear the same responsibility, he would be up in arms at once and fly to his union or the Arbitration Court to have the terms altered. A nurse in our public hospitals starts off at ten shillings a week with certain small allowances for shoes and uniform, and at the end of four years, if she passes her examination, for which she is obliged to "swat" in her all too short evenings,. she receives the munificent sum of £l, and when fully fledged accounts herself fortunate if she receives £BO per year. She works eight hours a day seven days a week at work which is oftimes unpleasant and always onerous, as trying on her physique as it is on her nervous system. In times of crisis—as during the late epidemic—she is on her feet all her waking moments, and it is little wonder that physically impaired as she becomes she often contracts the disease she is endeavoring to fight. She may, after 20 years' advice—if she survives that long—receive the appointment of matron St from £l5O to £2OO a year. Contrast the position of a nurse with that of the office or shop girl, who works about 'forty hours a week, has her evenings oft —nurses have their regular night shifts and free night 3 are taken .up with study—with little or no responsibility and command in a year or two up to £3 a week. Contrast her position again with that of the male Unionist worker, with his easy hours, comparatively high wages, and easy conditions, and it will be seen how hardly the nurse is done by. The hospital boards are content to allow things to go on - as they are because nurses aB a class are diffident about making any trouble, especially where their own interests are concerned, but this attitude, praiseworthy as it is in many respects, does not absolve members of hospital boards from recognising and discharging their duty by the nurses. If they do not, then it may not be long before in shec-r defence the splendid girls and women in the profession will be obliged to organise as others are doing and demand the consideration that is their due. It is all very well to declaim about the nobility of the nursing profession, but fair words butter no parsnips There is no class held in higher esteem by the community, and members of the Hospital Board I need fear no adverse vote or i-rif icism should they improve the lot of the nurses; rather the reverse, for, looking at it from a practical and selfish view, it is essential for the protection of health and life that nurses should be fit in mind and body and contented. Taranaki boards could very well give a lend in this matter, especially in view of the gratitude theyj

have exprcssod to the nurses for the ieroic and self-sacrificing part-they took In the recent epidemic. ouch action, would be more to the point- than any. form of recognition of the efforts of the nurses that could be devised.