Untitled

Evening Star, Issue 17482, 13 October 1920, Page 4

Butter is a slippery article, and not only in the sense of being a lubricant. Hence the miscarrying of an- enterprise relating to a somewhat large consignment that came to Otago prior to the rise, and was stored away, for retailing as soon as the price went lip. It lookedlike a good spec, to hold for a shilling rise. Not so now, since the advance is restricted to new butter; and, whilst jk is not an offence against the regulations to hoard, it would be an offence to sell at the enhanced price better .on which thp. extra price is not

The question of raising the salaries of responsible officers in tho Municipal municipal departments is Salaries. to be considered at to-

night's meeting of the City Council. 'lt is to be lipped that tho council in their wisdom -will mete out an exact measure of justice to each of the officers named in the Finance Committee's recommendations, and give special favors to none.. The proposed increases are as follow:—Town Clerk, from £9oo*tp £I,OOO per annum ; city engineer, '£7oo to £BOO ; city treasurer, £550 to £650; gas engineer. £550 to £650; electrical engineer, £750 to £9OO | and librarian, £450 to £SOO. In regard to the highest grades and salaries, it is quite possible that each of the "Big Three " is fully deserving of the proposed increases; but then it is probable that, remembering many little things that indicate the measure of a man's merit in service, the ratepayers may'hae their doots." Beyond question the positions ought to command the salaries recommended—a better standard that helps at least to lessen Dunedin's notoriety for niggardly wages to responsible and capable men: and the council need have no hesitation whatever" in adopting their committee's recommendation if they are fully convinced of the ability of the respective officers.

On several occasions in past years we have deemed it to be an exercise of justice to draw pointed attention to tliß council's niggardly treatment of the ultra-modest gas engineer, whose department seems to be the municipal Cinderella. In spite of tho glaring fact that, when the capable officer in charge of the City's gasworks was called up for military service, the council had to engage a substitute with a less impressive record at the rate of £BOO per annum, the position is still ranked orily a little higher than it was in the early eighties, when the works were much smaller and involving less responsibility. It is true that the gas 'engineer is provided with a free residence, but that is a concession common to the profession, it being- considered necessary for the responsible officer to be resident on the works, which are continuously in operation. The advantages are not altogether free from penalties. It is not always a good thing to "live at your job." Dunedin boasts of having the fourth largest gasworks in the Dominion, but it is less prominent in regard to payment of salaries. It flourishes on the bad policy of winning prosperity on the cheap—a too common policy that has brought the whole world to a- kind of industrial and commercial lunacy. Four smaller works at least in New Zealand pay a higher salary than in Dunedin to their gas engineer: Napier. £9OO 12 years ago, and now probably £I,OOO per annum; Palmerston North (municipal), £1,000; Wanganui (municipal). £650. At Gisborne the gas engineer is under engagement for a period, his salary to increase by annual increments to £BOO. There is much glib talk in Dunedin as to the urgent need of efficient service. In the case of the Dunedin gasworks the municipality receives, efficient service, but obstinately refuses to pay adequately for it. The council should to-night wipe out a long-standing reproach. Dunedin has tho lowest-priced gas in the Dominion. The position is maintained on comparative injustice.