A.S.R.S. reply to Mr Begg

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32660, 16 July 1971, Page 17

A.S.R.S. reply to Mr Begg

(N.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON, July 14. Most State employees have yet to receive the wage increase comparable workers in private industiy had received before Christmas, the general secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (Mr N. A. Collins) said today. He was replying to the Dominion president of Federated Farmers (Mr A. C. Begg). Mr Collins asked whether Mr Begg knew that while private industry workers were now receiving a 4.8 per cent cost-of-living increase, State employees would have to wait until August next year. Mr Begg wanted a highly efficient civil service to serve the farming community, but he wanted it on the cheap, Mr Collins said. Manufacturers’ view

When the president of Federated Farmers suggested once again the withdrawal of protection from the manufacturing industry manufacturers could only conclude that he had been travelling I around the world with his eyes closed, the president of the Manufacturers’ Federation (Mr L. H. Stevens) said today. “The plain fact of the matter is that New' Zealand today, more than ever before, needs a strong and expanding manufacturing industry,” said Mr Stevens. “How can we look for expansion in the export of manufactured goods if we destroy the home base by removing protection? The cost of goods manufactured in New Zealand over the last five years had risen by only 20 per cent, compared with an increase of 31 per cent in the cost of imported goods, said Mr Stevens.