A "VICIOUS CIRCLE."

Taranaki Daily News, 8 April 1919, Page 3

A "VICIOUS CIRCLE."

HIGHER WAGES AND INDUSTRY. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, Saturday. "There seems to be no doubt that New Zealand is committed to big increases of wages in many branches of industry," said a prominent employer to your correspondent to-day. "The Dominion's wages bill is being increased in an eil'ort vo keep pace with the cost of living. What the ultimate result will be it really is impossible to say. The industries, speaking generally, can find the money. But will not the steps they take to provide this money react on prices and so defeat the object of the increases? That is the crux of the question, and I confe»» I am perplexed. .1 don't know where we are getting to. "If increased wages meant increased production there would be no difficulty at all. Any economist can show that industry benefits by paying high prices for efficent labor. But it appears to me, as an employer, that the workers of this country are not appreciating the facts of political economy. They are fofgetting that wages are paid, not from capital, but from the current production of industry. If we increase production, we can increase wages with benefit to everybody. But if the extra ages are to come out of the old amount of production, then we are going to make another turn of the 'vicious circle' without advantage to workers, employers, or the general public."