THE LAST POUND

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 192, 11 May 1937, Page 10

THE LAST POUND

Part of Worker’s Wages That Counts “GOVERNMENT MUST BE DISAPPOINTED” “There are probably no members of the community more disappointed today than the members of the Government that the hopes, ambitions and promises they made had not been realised,” said Mr. A. C. Mitchell, president of the New Zealand Employers’ Federation, who was the guest speaker at the annual meeting of the Wellington Employers’ Association last night. He was referring to the increase in the cost of every-day commodities used by the wage-earner, Who, he said, found that his real wages did not now represent bis nominal wage. “It seems to indicate to me,” added Mr. Mitchell, “that there is no short cut to that happy condition that is so easy to promise on the hustings and so difficult to deliver from the Treasury benches.” The last year faced by the employers of New Zealand was one of the most serious through which they had passed, said Mr. Mitchell. There was urgent need that they should cooperate for their protection, as much legislation of an extreme character — as we in New Zealand understood industrial legislation—had appeared since the Labour Government came into office. Costs were increasing iu all directions and the man on wages was little better off than he was before the Government restored the cuts and introduced the shorter working week. It should be recognised, however, in fairness to the Government, that not all of the rising cost of commodities could be attributed to its enactments. While he was in Britain last year he observed a hardening tendency, notably in the metal markets, and it was being reflected in the Dominion. Yet he would say that there had been no more potent factor in the increase of costs in . this country than the introduction of the 40-hour week with the condition that wages remained at the level at which they stood during the longer week. The inevitable result was that prices must increase. It had appeared to the man on salary or wages that he would be much better off when his pay was increased by the restoration of cuts and, in effect, by teh reduction in hours. Actually this was not so, because the wage-earner had not received an increase in real wages.

“It is the last pound that counts,” said Mr. Mitchell. “It is the pound that the worker has left after he has given his wife her housekeeping allowance that matters. That is the measure of his real wages.”