TWENTY PER CENT CUT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 122, 25 May 1932, Page 10

TWENTY PER CENT CUT.

PUBLIC WORKS EMPLOYEES. A TOWARD RELIEF BASIS. KEEPING WITHIN ESTIMATES. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. A A move in the direction of turning the a whole of the Public Works undertakings y throughout New Zealand on to a purely a ' relief basis has been made by effecting wage reductions of up to 20 per cent, according to an official announcement made to-day. This action is in accord- ri ance with the policy outlined by the b Minister of Public Works, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, in liis statement to the House of Representatives on March 1, c j that expenditure on public works out of w borrowed money would have to be reduced to about one-quarter of the 1' amount spent last year. P The basic wage for all unskilled work- u ers in the Department will be reduced ] by 20 per cent, namely, from 12/0 a day to 10/ a day, thus placing them on n tho same footing as relief workers as „ far as actual pay for a day's work is con- g cerned. However, they will receive different treatment in that tliey will be (. provided with a full week's work irrespective of whether they are married or q single. I Proportionate reductions will be made f among skilled and semi-skilled workers, i but in this instance the present system of grading will be retained. Reductions : will be made on the basis of a man s grading, and although tho wage cuts s may vary, it is understood they will in no instance be over 20 per cent. » Co-operative workers will also suffer 1 reductions and piece-work rates will be cut in proportion, so that these men will £ receive proportionately the same wage t as before as compared with others who J will be subjected to reductions. An effort is being made by the Public Works Department to keep within the estimated expenditure of borrowed 1 money for the current year, which was J set down at £1,234,000 by Mr. Coatee < in his statement to Parliament. During ! the last financial year the borrowed < money appropriation under the Department's control, apart from separate funds found for main highways construction, was £5,542,000. It was originally intended that tho expenditure should be •. reduced to £2,800,000, but it was later i found necessary to cut this still furthere to a little over £1,000,000, owing < to the serious state of the country's i finances and inability to secure large sums of borrowed money for public works purposes. Tho largest single cut in expenditure is tn be upon roads and bridges, excluding highways, which is to be reduced hy £1,075,000 from £1,325,000 to £250,000.