THE NEW BONUS

Grey River Argus, 20 December 1920, Page 3

THE NEW BONUS

ME. EEAEDON INTERVIEW.

INTERESTING BEMABKS,

WELLINGTON, December IS. "This throe shillings bonus,'' said Mr. M. J. Rcardon, in an interview with a representative of the ''Argus," "is a contemptuous judgment, equivalent to one-farthing damages in a libel Action or breach of promise case! Tho remarkable chain of reasouiiig by which the Court's pronouncement in favour of 9/- is reduced to 3/-, is probably the most astonishing thing that has ever been delivered by a Court of Justice, in this country. First, tho Court has shown that its public ■statement as to the method of computation ia not This is borno out by the Government Statistician. But as a matter of fact it so happens that" the monthly computation on this occasion was a fairer basis 'than" the six monthly average. However, the Court insisted that it could not .depart from its own. statement and so ihe amount of 9/- had to be reduced to seven. Then comes the astonishing reasons, which are a paraphrase of the employers' case, by which the amount is reduced. Because the Court had awarded 2/- too much in a previous calculation, the- 7/- must be reduced to 5/-. Most astounding of all, because of the fact, that the Avorkers had got this 2/- over the period of six months that they were not entitled to, they must, now bo reduced a further 2/-. That brings us down to 3/-. Then we are told that taking all the circumstances into consideration the Court is of opinion that nothing should be awarded, but, almost in so many words, the Court tells us that as an act of charity we are to get 3/-. In order to keep us in our proper station we are given some fatherly advice as to how we are to make our reduced purchasing ; power fit the situation. Here is a Judge who hsf* probajbly never known what it is to want anything, telling the wives of working people how to economise, ju«t as if no housewife in New Zealand has ever been obliged to use the dripping from Sunday's roast by way of butter during the week. This, too, at a time when hundreds of working men in this country have ransacked tho rubbish tips looking for scraps of motor tyros with which to sole tho children's boots. And the adyice is so very old and so -very stale. We have that historic story of the Aristocracy of France busying themselves in devising ways by which young nettles would be made palatable for the working people. And there comes to mind also that famous member of the old nobility of France who 'said if the workers could not buy broad they could

eat grass. "In the* judgment given in "April, 1919, the Court admitted that its basic wage of 1/73 for skilled labour; 1/42 to 1/6 for semi-skilled labour, and 1/31 for unskilled labour did not wholly compensate the workers for the increase in the cost of living up to that . time. During the war period, and since, immenso-wealth has accrued to manufacturers and merchants. Profits unheard of and undreamt, of in pre-war times have been made, and in inostt cases have been hidden from the public. Indeed, it has been impossible for some of the financial institutions to so limit their profits as to keep them within; reasonable proportions. Then at the first sign that these financial institutions have got to call a halt upon the reckless gambling into which business has developed, the workers are to be made to suffer by a reduced purchasing power. In the days when the employers were at the height of their prosperity, the Court fixed a method of computation- that it believed would be fair, while admitting that it would not bring the. workers up to the pre-war standard. Now, at the dictation, of the employers, the Court has abandoned its own method of arriving at a decision. All the specious reasoning that has been put forward in this judgment will not convince the workers that the Arbitration Court is now anything better than a blind apologist of arbitrary power. The whole history of the agitation was such that no Court of Justice should have allowed % its'elf to be dragged down to the position which this judgment indicates. In October last, Mr. T. Shailer Weston, at a meeting of the Employers' Association, stated that it would be necessary to stem the tide of high wages. He expressed the view that to alter the Arbitration Act would be out of the question, and he also held out little hope of any impression being made on the Arbitration Court at that, stage. But he suggested that Mr. Pryor should be sent forward to put the point of yiew of the employers, merely for its educational value. Mr. Weston apparently did not realise how pliable was the material upon t which the Employers' Association proposed to work. First, the Legislature, without even nnde-, standing what it was doing, amended the Act at the Toqucst of the Employers' Association. Now we have the judgment of the Court, and if you ■'follow the statement put forward by Mi0 Pryor, you will find that the. judgment of the Court not only reaches the same conclusions as the employers'' statement, but is arrived at by exactly the same process of reasoning. In these circumstances I shall be very surprised indeed if the working'people of this country, feel that, they have had a square deal. • "A simple calculation will show exactly how the lowest paid worker, the unskilled man, comes out of the deal. In the pre-war period 9/- per day, or 1/1* an hour was generally accepted as the minimum for unskilled labour. At the present time he is receiving