PUBLIC SERVICE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 23 August 1924, Page 5

PUBLIC SERVICE.

—♦ THE SALARY QUESTION. (by TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION.) II ELLINGTON, Aug. 22. iiie question of the salaries of civil servants cropped up in the House for the second time to-day, when the estimate for the Stamp Duties Department (£75,837) was under consideration. M T te l l r ad l er of the Opposition (Mr T. M. \\ llford) moved an amendment that the total be reduced by £5 as an indication .that the “cut” in civil servantf’ ‘? alanes of £320 and under should be reinstated. He said such lestoration would involve a total amount of £1,291,545, and if reinstatement were made the whole scheme of the reduction of taxation would have to go by the hoard. The leader of the Labour Party (Mr H. E. Holland) said Labour’s efforts Here to the lower naid men, H’hiie the Government’s scheme of reducing taxation only benefited wealthy interests. • Mr Massey said civil servants were better off to-day than at the outbreak of the war. The scale of salaries this year would cost hundreds of thousands extra, probably nearly £500,000. He h anted to see all receive proper payment, but there were other neople besides civil servants to be paid. ‘ Were serv ™t* 1° remunerated on a .different scale from workers in the mines, in the country, or on the wharves, for instance? Mr P. Fraser (Wellington Central) i • . t l he , po,nt was that servants should have at least the standard of living they enjoyed in 1914. On a. division Mr Wilfor'd’s amendment was defeated by 29 votes to 24, and the vote was carried unaltered.