AUSTRALIA

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 October 1942, Page 6

AUSTRALIA

BASIC WAGE MELBOURNE, October 19. Basic wage increases of 3/- a week for Melbourne, 2/- for Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, and 1/for Hobart have been granted, and will operate next month. The increases have been granted because of the rise in the cost of living. The new weekly basic wage rates will be: Sydney aqd Melbourne £4 17/-, Adelaide £4/13/-, Brisbane and Perth £4/11/-, and Hoba'rt £4/12/-. HOURS OF WORK CANBERRA, October 20. National Security Regulations limiting hours of work for manual workers, in Australian industry, have been gazetted. Their object is to increase war output by counteracting industrial fatigue. Regulations prescribe a maximum week of 48 hours for workers, aged less than 18. Up Io November 30, the maximum week of 60 hours for workers, aged more than 18. After November 30, the maximum week is 56 hours for workers aged more than 18. ARMAMENTS INCREASE SYDNEY, October 20. Australia’s tank production has increased an hundredfold during the past year. This was stated by the Attorney-General, Dr. Evatt, to-day. I-Ie said: “There now are 96 times as many tanks in Australia as there were six or seven months ago, while our aircraft strength also has increased enormously.” Emphasising the spate of Australia’s war effort, Dr. Evatt said: There are few fronts on which Australians are hot fighting. One small contingent of the A.I.F. has been fighting in distant China.

An essential part of the war effort, declared Dr. Evatt, was to plan for the period after the war. “There must be no repetition of the chaos, anarchy and broken promises that followed the last war,” he said. “Australia must look to the time when the million and a-half men who have been taken out of their occupations by the war are to be reabsorbed in normal civilian life.” SHORTER SHIRTS (Recd. 1.10 p.m.) SYDNEY, October 21. The standardisation of men’s and boys’ shirts and pyjamas has been announced by the Minister for War Organisation of Industry (Mr. Dedman). Men’s shirts will be cut three inches shorter in front, and from three to five inches shorter at the back, according to the wearer’s size. Included in the new standardised shirt styles is a short open-fronted coat-shirt to be worn as a coat in hot weather. It can be worn with or without a tie. Its length is restricted to 24 inches. Other coat-style shirts, and double cuffs are prohibited. Based on pre-war production figures the elimination of double cuffs and the shortening of the length of shirts would mean that a quarter of a million additional shirts could be made from the same amount of cloth, said the Minister.