STANDARD OF LIVING

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 129, 28 November 1923, Page 9

STANDARD OF LIVING

TENDENCY TOWARDS STABILI-

SATION

FACTORS FOR IMPROVEMENT.

_ Hopes for a permanent improvement in the standard of living in New Zealand, dependent upon certain factors, were expressed by the president of the New Zealand Employers' Federation, Mr. T. S. Western, in his address before the annual meeting to-day. "Labour on the whole," he said, "has assisted the country's progress towards recovery _ during the. year by abstaining from strikes and stoppages and by continuing to furnish steady and continuous work. The longer-headed of the Labour leaders must have realised what the reports from all countries, except the United States, show—that , Labour in New Zealand nas suffered a less proportionate reduction in money wages than anywhere else. The tendency of money wages in New Zealand. is now towards stabilisation. If the present rates of money; wages can ~bee maintained, this, taken with the drop in prices of manufactured articles and food products which seems inevitable in the future, will mean a substantial advance in real wages and a permanent rise in. the standard of living in this Dominion. Rents, too, should tend to fall in the future once the present activity in new building begins to overtake arrears. This happy result is, however, absolutely depedent upon two factors. "First; employers will have to give full attention to the adoption of the most improved processes of manufacture and methods of production and distribution practicable in the circumstances of this country; and secondly, Labour will have to furnish steady, honest, and loyal effort free from strikes and 'go-slow.' Given these two factors progress can be made and will be made—small at first but increasing as it goes on. One trouble is that the effective remedies are ao_ often slow working. Suggest such a joint effort to Labour leaders and they so often reply: 'Well, give our men a rise m wages straight away as an earnest of good faith on your part,' forgetting that you cannot eat your fruit before you grow it. Another difficulty to face in this scheme of things is that a change of mood among either employers or men must come from within. Employers, either themselves or through, the influence of their leaders, must determine to make their effort—so with the men. With Labour leaders^: however, the difficulty is to induce their followers to discard old prejudices and passions fostered often by'leaders as a means to their own advancement. Even if the Labour leader" has the knowledge, pluck, and honesty required to ask his followers not to smash their heads against a, brick wall or to advise them that their employers' 'tails have been already screwed to the danger point, that a further turn must inevitably mean a kick back—what is so often the result? The men turn their backs upon their adviser; and listen greedily to a new hotheaded extremist who has not yet learnt sufficient to keep, himself and his followers out of trouble." . .