WAGES AND FAMILIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 59, 11 March 1937, Page 20

WAGES AND FAMILIES

NOT A NEW SUBJECT

A 1925 PROPOSAL

Referring' to the points raised by "Equity" and others in correspondence recently, dealing with the advisability of combining the basic wage principle with progressive bonuses or additions to the wage, according to family, Mr. F. W. Rowley writes recalling that in his report to the Department of Labour in 1925 he advocated the principle of fixing the basic rate for single men lower, than for married men and adding so much for the families of the latter, the'idea being that in this way the aggregate payments would not be mo,re than an existing basic wage aggregate. ' .

The report to which Mr. Rowley refers,.:after .touching on the prominence which, the.subject of family allowances had .received in many countries in the year 1924, mentioned that then systems existed in Holland, Belgium, France, and Germany, but in those countries there was not a system of minimum wages, and therefore no New Zealand analogy. The report suggested a New Zealand solution, without increasing the total wages paid by any. employer or ; in industry generally, by adjusting the amounts ordinarily due to workers through a central fund, according to the number of dependants (if any). There was approximately one child under. 14 to every adult male worker, and, if 7s 6d were deducted from the wages of each-worker, the aggregate would provide approximately .that sum -.for each child, less an allowance for. administration' expenses.' The employer would be required to "deduct _ the: sum from each .worker, and pay it to the central fund. The actual wages would then be as follows:—Single men, widowers, or married men without children, the ordinary wage, less 7s 6d deducted; married men or widowers with one child, the'same,' but with the 7s 6d-repaid,by the central fund; men with two "children* ..the ordinary wage plus 7s< 6d (the employer deducting 7s 6d-and the.fund paying 15s .for the children);.men with three children, the ordinary wage, plus 15s (the employer deducting 7s 6d and the fund paying £1 2s 6d for the children); men with four children, ordinary wages, plus £1 2s 6d (the employer deducting 7s 6d and the fund paying. £1 10s for the children)