The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, March 30, 1946. MINIMUM WAGE ACT.

Grey River Argus, 30 March 1946, Page 4

The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, March 30, 1946. MINIMUM WAGE ACT.

Employment is so universal today in New Zealand that the operation, as from Monday, of the Minimum Wage Act, is unlikely to affect directly a very large percentage of workers. Long before this the influence of the Labour Government has availed to place almost all workers on a basis of comparative security. For that reason the rates now legally fixed are obviously no .more than an actual minimum, and must mean increases in cases so few that they will be decidedly exceptional to the general rule. On the other hand, it no less certainly is obligatory on the Government to ensure that exceptions shall no longer obtain, whether it be in individual cases or isolated forms of employment. There, of course, are some other categories of a character to exemplify the rule, having to do with employees who are under' going professional training or are specially contracting under con ditions 'that are for their own particular advantage. : It is an appropriate time for the legal en actment of minimum rates, especially as they are definitely below the average in almost every form of employment. Any form in which there may be a lower minimum should no longer be

allowed to remain so. The objective is simply a sufficiency for a decent existence, and no industry is tolerable if it fails to afford as much. If there were any in which payment remained less, and which itself were an essential industry, it could honestly be said that the employees were being unduly exploited. Some might raise the question as to whether the age qualification might not bo higher, but to that the obvious answer is that the young male worker must have a sufficiency on which to maintain a -family if he is to marry, and the best interests of the country will be served in the degree that workers generally do marry early. At the same time all female workers at the age specified are fully entitled to a living wage, and the minimum fixed is precisely, a living wage. The Act allows for cases where workers are'iiot of full capacity; so that there will be no hardship whatever on that account. This year there will be many promises of advantages for workers forthcoming from critics of the Government. This legislation, however, is no mere promise, but a solid reality.,