COST OF LIVING

Evening Star, Issue 18136, 28 November 1922, Page 4

COST OF LIVING

COURT'S IMPORTANT STATEMENT. FURTHER WAGE REDUCTION UNLIKELY. At, a sitting of the Arbitration Court at Invercargill Mr Justice Frazer made an important statement bearing on wages and the cost of living. He said that tho reduction in wages had now reached a stage whore further reductions by the court could not bo made unless the cost of living was further reduced. Tho matter, ho continued, was now an tho hands of manufacturers and employers, and only through them could a ■further reduction in the cost of living bo made, and future action lay an their hands. A few opinions on the above pronouncement were obtained by a ‘ Star ’ reporter this morning. A well-known representative (of Labor stated that the reduction in wages since May had not reduced the cost of living as anticipated by a section of the public. Tho latest expression of opinion of the court justified tho contention of Mr M'Oombs, who said that a lowering of wages would not effect a lowering of th'o cost of living locally—-he., in Hie dominion. “It must bo gratifying to the workers,” continued our informant, “to know that tho court has expressed tho opinion that, unless.a radical reduction takes* place in the cost of living, ■their wages swill remain approximately at the present level, which evidently, in the court's opinion, is a fair living wago for* workers. It ia now up to manufacturers and employers to make a reduction in their own manufactures sympathetic with the reduction in tho wages of the workers.” An employer’s representative who was approached regarding the matter said that in the two reductions which had taken place in tho cost-of-living bonus, tho court bad only taken into account tho actual reduction in tho cost of living as taken l from the Statistician’s figures. It had not taken into account the economic positions of industries at all. They had been led to understand that the court would base its decision on tho Gisborne pronouncement, but it did not seem to have done so. The court was expected to take into consideration variations in the cost of living and the effect upon the industry of making a reduction or not making a reduction. Finally, it had not to do anything that would take away from the workers a fair standard of living. Our informant was of tho opinion that wages of skilled workers might come down to 'Qs per hour, but as far as he could see they were not likely to ,go any lower.