Wage rise sacrifice

Press, 29 July 1978, Page 2

Wage rise sacrifice

PA Auckland Some husbands with young children are shunning the 7 per cent wage increase to enable them to stay eligible for family benefit capitalisation, said Mr R. White, chairman of a big .tome building company, yesterday. Many builders have expressed concern that the family benefit income limit was not increased to compensate for the wage order. They said that many families would also miss Housing Corporation

concessional interest rates when wages went beyond the limit for such rates. Universal Homes, Ltd, has sent a telegram to the Minister of Housing (Mr Holland) informing him of the position. He has promised to take this up with the Minister of Social Welfare (Mr Walker). The marketing manager for Dempsey Morton Contractors, Ltd, Mr J. Redward, said it was ridiculous that the income limit for capitalisation be set at $125 gross a week in the Budget last month,

when a month later many people would not be eligible. He knew of one case where a young father not only missed his capitalisation benefit of $3OOO because of the wage order, but he missed a concessional interest rate which meant an extra $5 a week in interest payments. Mr White said that the wage increase ($7 maximum) would push the cost of a house up about 4 per cent in a year, although it would be hidden in inflation figures.

to have been mated by post. Museum guide “ANTARCTICA” is the name of a guide booklet to the Canterbury Museum which has just been published. It will be on sale at the museum for $1.50 and is intended as a guide to the new Antarctic Wing as well as information for schools and interested visitors. The cover, when flattened at the spine, shows a beautiful colour photograph of a dog team at Scott Base silhouetted against a midnight-sun sky. Inside the booklet are numerous colour and monochrome pictures, as well as a detailed description of Antarctica, past and present. Vacancy NOAHS Hotel has been advertising for a houseman, without much success. It has tried the Hotel Association of New Zealand, the Hotel Workers’ Union and the Department of Labour. But it seems that, despite the high unemployment figure in Christchurch at present, a job for an unskilled man — whose only require-* ments are that he be “trustworthy and honest” — is not in great demand. The employment officer at Noahs has had only one applicant for the job. —Felicity Price