WAGE RISE WITHOUT MORE GOODS WILL MEAN DISASTER-Mr. Nash

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22624, 29 April 1948, Page 6

WAGE RISE WITHOUT MORE GOODS WILL MEAN DISASTER-Mr. Nash

LABOUR CONFERENCE

(P.'A.) DUNEDIN. April 29. The people of New Zealand enjoyed the best standard of living in the world. The prices of commodities and essential goods were lower here than anywhere else, and the volume of goods available today was increasing and had reached 92 per cent of the 1939 figure.

These were the contentions of the Minister of "W. Nash, in his address to the annual conference of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, according to a supplied report made available later.

* Mr, Nash said that the higher incomes in New Zealand were now lower than in 1938 and the lower incomes were higher. Levelling Out of Incomes Releasing the latest figures on the subject of levelled incomes, Mr. Nash said that the number of persons receiving between £4OO and £7OO a year had been more than doubled between 1937 and 1947. Those receiving between £7OO and £IOOO a year numbered 36 in every 1000 in 1937, 37 in every 1000 in 1942, and 56 in every 1000 in 1947. Of those persons receiving more than £2OOO a year, their average income was £3093 in 1937, £2973 in 1942, and £2873 in 1947. "If profits, salaries or wages or other income are increased without more goods being made available, no one in the long run will obtain any real benefit,” the Minister emphasised, “and the community will endure dislocation and hardship which inevitably accompany inflation. Choice Before New Zealand “Our choices, therefore, are either | a general agreement by the industrial Labour movement, farmers and the rest of the general public to act to- . gether on sound and public-spirited ; lines, or to. accept a serious and pro- - longed setback which will result in jeopardising production, retarding pro gress and reducing living standards. “The choice is with us today. We can determine that we will maintain the conditions we have and increase production for improving them, or we can make a drive for greater incomes out of our existing production. “If the latter course is followed, I can see nothing but disaster ahead for us as well as for those in other countries. Our responsibilities are great.”