COST OF LIVING

Evening Star, Issue 16460, 26 June 1917, Page 6

COST OF LIVING

CIVIL SERVANTS SEEK RELIEF. of sEW" b f‘- n , recci . vccl by the Council of State Servants’ Associations to their request that the Government should, to afford relief in the matter of the cost of liviim take upon themselves the power of a distributing agent, or State storekeeper, so far , neC f? rie ;\ Hie are concerned. The icplj states that the Government cannot see their way to Hake any action in the direction requested. The Council of the i-tate Servants' Associations have determined to carry the matter a stage further. A ncj. *■? Parliament, lias been drawn nn and distributed tor signature among the various sections and branches of the different bodies associated with the .council. The petition sets out: “(1) That since the outbreak of the war the cost of living has increased to such an extent that persons in receipt of small remuneration are suffering serious hardship; (2) that the circumstances of the times are not such as to allow free play to the ordinary conditions of trade and industry, as shown by the experience of Great Britain and other countries: wherefore your petitioners humbly pray your Honorable House to devise means to effect relief/’ Referring to the petition, the ‘New Zealand Journal of Education ’ stales that members of the New Zealand Educational Institute were evenly divided in opinion as to the advisability of asking for mi increase in salaries: but there is not likely to bo tlio same discussion regarding the signing of this petition, since this may bo done without the risk of censure for seeking a personal advantage atAthe expense of the State. “It is. simply asking that some of the stops that have been taken in Great Britain, France, the United States—not to mention Germany —shall be followed in this country.’’ ,