FAMILY ALLOWANCES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 210, 5 September 1925, Page 14

FAMILY ALLOWANCES.

A SCHEME OUTLINED. The question of family allowances is touched upon in the course of his annual report by the Secretary of Labour (Mr. F. W T . Rowley), who suggests that one possible solation of the question in Xew Zealand would be achieved by providing that without increasing the total wages now paid by an employer or an industry generally, the amounts ordinarily due to the workers would be adjusted, through a central fund, according to the number of dependents (if any) on each worker.V "It is ascertained,"' he states, "that there is approximately one child under fourteen years of age to every adult male worker; if, therefore, the sum that it is desired to allow for each child —say, 7/G per week —was deducted from each worker's wages or salary, the amounts so deducted would in the aggregate provide approximately that sum tor each child, less an allowance for administrative expenses; in actual practice each employer would be required to deduct the sum decided on from the wages of each of his employees and to pay that amount to the central funa in the locality. The actual wages receivable by the workers would then be as follow: —Single man, widower, or married man without children, ordinary wages as at present, less 7/6 deducted; married man or widower with one child, ditto, but the 7/6 (allowance for one child) would be repaid by the central fund; man with two children, ordinary wages plus 7/6 (the employer deducting 7/0" and the fund paying 15/ for the children) ; man with three children, ordinary wages plus 15/ (the employer deducting 7/6 and the fund paying £1 2/0 for the children): man with four children, ordinary wages plus £1 2/6 (the employer deducting 7/b and the fund paying £1 10/ for the children): and so on. "It is worth noting that this system would give the married man with two children, who has been regarded as the average upon which the basic rates should be fixed, 7/6 per week more than at present, while those with larger families would, of course, receive greater amounts: the benefits would, however, no doubt soon become less because the average size of tbe families would tend to increase, and the single men would be., encouraged to marry, and this, together with the cost of administration, would require to be taken into account. T*he actual sums to be deducted and paid out would require to be actuarially adjusted from time to time in order that the scheme would be self-_upport-ing. Incidentally, it might be suggested that the institution of such a scheme would remove to some extent at least the vexed question of equal pay. for equal work as between men and women." i