REDUCTION OF WAGES

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 305, 26 December 1930, Page 6

REDUCTION OF WAGES

WOULD PRICES FALL?

(To the Editor.) '"-. ? It has-been argued by many of the wa«e reduction advocates that if wa £ es came down the benefits from the lower cost of production would be passed on to the wage-earner. Mav I draw attention to two articles whi«h*thc retailer can now purchase at a great deal less cost than nine years ago and wind, remain at the same price to the consumer now as then? I refer to two most necessary foodstuffs, milk and cream. The farmers' are receiving less than fivepence per pint for their cream, averaging forty per cent of butterfat while the retailers can sell it for 2/4 p er p ; n t' Cream is such a .safe tiling for the retailer to handle, for if it goes sour he converts it into butter. If this is the way that all reduction of coats is to he taken by the middleman then the wage-earner would be foolish to consent to a wage reduction till he gets a guarantee that less wages will mean lower prices for his necessaries. JUSTICE