WAGES AND WORKING HOURS

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 281, 22 August 1940, Page 8

WAGES AND WORKING HOURS

In the interests of the award worker 5 per cent, has been added to his weekly pay envelope, to meet the increased cost of living in this country. To be logical, as well as to be. economically wise and equitable, the Government should take an early step to avoid a further sharp rise in living costs which may more than absorb the wage increases. This rise is an inevitable consequence of the recent 5 per cent, “general order”—-unless some other balancing factor is introduced. To combat it is as much in the interests of the wage worker as was the Court of Arbitration’s decision. The only sound way of introducing a balancing factor today is by increasing hours of work in industry —by producing more in return for the increased amount of money being spent on wages. This truth was emphasized at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce by j\lr. McCaul, who put the position dearly and in a nutshell when he said :

There was no shortage of money in New Zealand, but. there was a serious shortage of goods, It was shortage of goods that, caused the rise in the cost of living. An increase of the amount of money in circulation, without an equivalent production of goods would only force prices still higher. In such circumstances as this the worker who agitates to retain his peacetime 40-hottr week, or some near-adjustment of hours on that basis, is short-sighted and ill-advised for his own sake. Moreover he is taking no account, of national wartime duty But what of a vitally-responsible body —a Government —which listens to such agitation and apparently pays heed to it to the extent of making no national order for more work by all? Such a lack of logical action cannot lie excused as the attitude of a thoughtless individual can be excused. The issue is too clear cut, the remedy too obvious to thinking and responsible minds.