THE BASIC WAGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 292, 7 December 1923, Page 6

THE BASIC WAGE.

INCREASE ASKED FOR.

APPLICATION TO THE COIJ*T.

QUESTION OF HOUSING GOSi«

By TelezrapD — Special to "SUr.") WELLINGTON, Thursday.

The contention that wages are too •low in view of the existence of Wa rents was raised at the Arbitral, Court before his Honor, Mr j™-°? Fraxer (President), Mr. W. Scott plovers' representative), and Air v Hiram Hunter (workers' representa tive.)

An application was made by jjj A. i'arlanc (secretary to the Drivers' Union, and member 01 the executive of the Kew Zealand Alliance of Labour - on behalf of the Alliance of Labour' that the Court should fix a day to hea' argument in favour of a substantial increase in the basic rates of before expiration of the 1921-22 legislation, which provided for periodical general adjustments of wages. The reason for the application, said Mr. Parlane, was that ttic present basic rate wit not sufficient to provide for the bare neces3arie3 of physical existence. Mr Parlane said wuen the Court, and*. previous adjustments it waa explained, that it too.: into consideration: and gave weight to unfavourable economic • conditions prevailing at the thne, andreduced wages, according to its ownstatement, as far aa possibly could beJ done, without touching on whit it considered a lair standard of livin» He submitted that wages were their reduced below a fair .standard, fe; if they accepted the Court's own version, wages to-day must be dowa to the bare minimum allowed by law if spite of vastly improved econonieconditions prevailing at the present time. To show how great was the improvement, he quoted figures comparing exports of primary products daring the nine months ending September 30 last with exports (given it parentheses), for the whole of the year 1922.—W001, £9,657,000 (£U;----140,000): frozen meat, £$gSJS» (f 7,710,000); butter. £7,463,000 (£5----288,000): cheese, £5,370,000 (£4,053,,. 000). Income tax revenue, be tht stated, showed for the same nist months an increase of £253,000 , over the corresponding period of 1922. Housing Figures Challenged.

The Alliance of Labour, he added, desired to be given an opportunity of challenging the Court's figures witi regard to housing and method of computing housing costs. Housing conditions to-day, he maintained, were i sczndal. The principle of including in statistics houses built and bought yein • ago, and on which costs had not increased, was a v.rong one; so also wis the principle of including houses unfit for human habitation. Seeing that tie Act provided that workers should have fair standard living, only houses it for human habitation should be in-1 ciuded in the statistics. He hoped that the Court would even at that, late stage afford workers an opportunity, of statin" then- case, because he couM.' ! assure the Court that the position w&" an intolerable one, and if the. mattor, were not dealt with before IM-2J-' legislation expired it could only" be.'. dealt with piecemeal afterwards/.Even. if a union proved conclusively that it was entitled to substantial increase, the Court would be restricted in its action by the fact that if it granted an increase it would upset the balance compared with the wages of other unions, the awards oi which had still a long time to run. If the Court dealt with the matter now, however, it' could adjust the whole wages by a general order and the proportional relation between wages of skilled and unskilled labour could be returned. H» cjuoted a clause in the Act providing that before a decision was come to by the Court, the workers should be given an opportunity of being heard through their representatives. , ■ -

A Proper Minimum.

His Honor said that the difference between the period of the last lijustment (May, 1922), and the preseaf time was that wages at that time w*M practically all on a minimum rate, but now the award rate was • treated more as a proper minimum. He could only say that the Court would consider Mr. Parlane's representations. The whole system of calculation of the cost of living had been a frequent subject of consideration by the Court, and the old system was still retained. Tie Court had had Mr. McCombs and Jit. Bloodwortii and quite a number o: other investigators and. had had thi whole subject of the cost of living thrashed out on different occasions. iae Government Statistician had also given evidence . and had been cross-examined, but nothing , new had arisen to alter the position since then. As to housiMhe did not. of course, say that the average rent that a man* would be called upon to pay who moved into a new house to-day was not above tne Statistician's figure, but all houses had to tie taken into consideration.

Sir. Parlane repeated that only houses fit for habitation should.be considered, and contended that if people were jammed three families into a house at 4ii/ a week they should not be' put down as paying only 13/ a week.

His Honor said tiiat that was not the ease. The Government Statistician'? figure would rather work the other way. A man put down as renting an 8-roomea house at £3 per week would very often re-it half of it. The Court would consider what Mr. Parlane had said and would let him know the result.