PENSIONS AND SUBSIDIES

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27210, 30 November 1953, Page 10

PENSIONS AND SUBSIDIES

Increases May Be Made •

RESULT OF WAGE ORDER

(From Our Own Reporter) _ WELLINGTON, November 29. Important announcements are expected to be made by the Government this week as a result of the recent wage increase granted by the Court of Arbitration. This will be the main subject before the meeting of the Cabinet tomorrow.

following are some of the steps likely to be taken by the Government: The basic weekly payment to social s “ u , r ’ t y beneficianes to be raised from £ 2 §d a week to £3 7s fid a week; An additional bonus to be paid of £5 for single persons and £lO for married couples; War pensions to be raised, possibly by 10s a week; * Subsidies to be increased on butter, bread and milk so that there will be no increase in present retail prices; Passenger and freight charges to be raised by the Railways Department, as well as higher fares for road services;

Higher charges to be made by th< Post and Telegraph Department.

Cabinet Sub-committee A special sub-committee of the Cabinet has been considering the effect of the Court of Arbitration wage order ever since it was announced. There a L a discussion at the meeting °f the Government caucus held before the end of the Parliamentary session on Friday. It is understood the caucus recommended that the weekly basic rate for beneficiaries should be raised from £2 17s fid to £3 7s 6d, with additional bonuses of £5 for single persons and £lO for married couples. If this is agreed to at tomorrow’s meeting of the Cabinet an early announcement will be made. Any such increased payments would be independent of the Christmas bonuses of £lO for single persons and £2O for married couples, which will be paid shortly. No payment date has yet-been announced, but it is understood the Government is endeavouring to make payments by December 10. These Christmas bonuses will apply to all persons who are in receipt of a benefit on next Tuesday, December 1. The Government will have to decide whether to raise the retail price of butter on the local market or to increase existing subsidies. The same applies to bread and milk.

Present Subsidies At present butter, at the retail price of Is 8d per lb, carries a subsidy of Is 2|d per lb, costing £4,913,000 annually. A 41b loaf of bread carries a subsidy of 9d, costing £4,826,000. A quart of milk is subsidised by 3Jd, costing £2,499,000 annually. The Government’s capital works programme this year will cost £73,000,000, and the award by the Court of Arbitration will increase the total cost considerably. Housing, schools, and hydro-electric schemes will cost many millions more. In wages alone the Court’s latest wage order is estimated to cost the Government nearly £9.000,000 a year more. The Postmaster-General (Mr W. J.

Broadfoot) estimates that the extra cost to the Post and Telegraph Department will be more than £1.000,000 Increased wages to 1600 members of the Police Force will cost about £lOO,OOO a year more, while the cost to the Government of higher wages for teachers will be little short of £1,000.000. Railwaymen’s Wages If wages for railwaymen, who are covered by four separate unions, rise in proportion to the Court’s order, the cost would be almost £2,000,000, while the current wage application of the Public Service Association on similar grounds would absorb a further £2,000,000 at least. Members of the armed services also have to be considered. When faced with the problem of meeting past increases in overhead costs to State trading departments, the Government has adopted the policy that the user shall pay. There is every indication that the same policy will be adopted to meet the latest wage increase, so the railway and Post and Telegraph charges appear certain to rise.