CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3110, 8 February 1909, Page 5

CORRESPONDENCE.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,— Concerning some matter in your leader on the position of the flax industry and the wages question. In an interview between a large flaxmiller and a Wellington pressman, printed a few days ago, it I was admitted by the miller that the i wages are but lair, and based generally upun the cost of living; also in a deputation to the Minister of Labour, it is stated that Messrs Seifert and John Stansell consider the wages are no more than fair. On several occasions, the Arbitration Court has laid it down, that evidence on the question of profits is inadmissable; it seems to have become a general principle of the Court, in which the Press usually concur, that no matter how large the profits of capital, labour is to have no share in the wealth it helps to produce, or only such as the rich man threw to Lazarus. Seeing, then, that the Arbitration Court has fixed what is called the living wage standard as its sole guide, it is manifestly unfair to ask the toiler to share in the iosses, if any, as he gets no share in the profits; at any rate, it is a fact, that in no case has the Court granted an increase in wages, consequent upon a higher market rate of the article, produced. The argument, tJien, that high wages follow b66m prices falls through; over and over again, it has been proved, that where goods have increased in price 50 per cent, the wages earned in that trflde have not gone up 10 per cent, the 40 per cent, difference then, must be in profits; how distributed, , it is hard to say. As the worker then Gams but enough to-day to enable him to work to-morrow, his position is not enviable; but keep reducing his wages to swell profits, and compete with Asiatic labour, and in time he will go on his way rejoicing, clothed in a reed hat and a postage stamp for a suit of clothes, a la the coolie in Manilla. The peculiar attitude ot part ff the New Zealand Press to the cause of labuur is remarkable; apparently "Nothing good can come out of Judea"; all the labour party's efforts to improve their position, their patience under injustice and misrepresentation, and their natural desire for a chance to earn some of the good things of life, are so twisted and distorted in meaning, that one cannot wonder at the growing distrust and exclusion of the Press fr >m some Trade Union meetings. Should a disaster similar to the Messina earthquake ever overtake New Zealand, it will, no doubt, be attributed to the wickedness of the Arbitration Act, and the general cussedness of the Labour Party.—l am, etc.

J.W. Masterton, February sth, 1909. (Our correspondent is somewhat astray regarding his "facte." Had he read carefully the article to which he refers he would have seen that the flaxmiller in question said "The labour portion of the cobt of production has increased since 1898 by some £4 per ton. While the boom prices lasted the industry was able to bear this increased impost, but now that millers' profits have reached the vanishing point, the position calls for a readjustment of wages as affecting the cost of production." Moreover, When our correspondent states that a deputation (which consisted of the Secretary of the Flaxmills Employees' Union) informed the Minister for Labour that Messrs Seifert and Stansell consider the wages are no more than fair, we would point out, by way of reply, that Mr .Seifert, has since stated that the Secretary's statement was based upon an article appearing in an Auckland weekly papar written by him for the express purpose of showing, amongst other things, that flax land proprietors now have to get (at a moderate valuation) 10s per ton royalty in order to return a little over 5 per cent, on their investment! The object of our article was to emphasise that greater elasticity in Arbitration Court awards is required. It is surely better for a worker, in a time of depression, to accept low wages than to earn nothing at all. As to that indefinable quantity--"a living wage"—the position is, that the minimum wage, in actual operation, ic almost invariably the maximum wage. Seeing that the minimum wage varies greatly in different awards, it is difficult to understand exactly what principle the Court has observed in the making of awards. For instance, in some awards the minimum wage is £4, in others £2 10s; how then can it be said, as our correspondent avers, "That the Arbitration Court has fixed what is called the living wage standard as its sole guide?"— Ed. W.A.)