'ATTACK ON WAGES'

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 50, 27 August 1940, Page 11

'ATTACK ON WAGES'

STATEMENTS DENIED

MR. NIMMO'S COMMENTS

REPLY TO RAILWAYMEN

"I wish to take the greatest exception 'to the unfair criticism that has been levelled not only against me, but against the Chamber of Commerce, by misconstruing "utterances that have been made in all sincerity and in the interests of the country as a whole," said Mr. R. H. Nimmo, president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, in a statement made today in reply to a published report of resolutions passed by a mass meeting of railway workers at Fetone, and to an anonymous letter appearing in the "Evening Post."

"People who deliberately misconstrue statements and twist them to suit their own pet theories are, by their actions, retarding the progress of the country and disrupting the harmony that should exist, especially during these difficult days," he^ said.

"In both cases," stated Mr. Nimmo, "I have been credited with having made a deliberate attack on the standard of wages paid /in New Zealand with a view to forcing down the rate of wages, whereas what I did say was that I am a firm believer in workers being well paid, and in these enlightened days workers have a right to be well and fully paid for their labours, thereby making it possible for them to enjoy the amenities of life. CRUX OF THE ARGUMENT. "The part of my speech which was reported, and to which some exception appears to have been taken, was my statement that the standard of living in this country, was, in my opinion, too high in relation to the rate of production. This is the crux of my argument, and is also the root of the trouble in New Zealand at the present time. If we are going to continue to maintain the present standard of living, we must earn this by our rate of production. "The present rate of production of this country definitely does not warrant the present standard of living, anS if the rate of production is going to be maintained the standard of living obviously Will collapse. Under such conditions New Zealand simply cannot pull its full weight, in the war effort as part of the British Commonwealth of Nations. The rate of pay and privileges that have been granted to the workers by our present Government place the workers under a very definite obligation to the Government to merit such standard of living by production at least compatible with certain standards."