WAGES IN INDUSTRY

Hawera Star, Volume L, 4 December 1930, Page 6

WAGES IN INDUSTRY

BURDEN ,0N PRODUCERS,

ECONOMIC CONFERENCE; URGED

(l!y Telegraph —Press Association.) DUNEDIN. Dee. 3. At a conference of dairymen to-day Mr. J. Christie said that the great cause of the position as regarded wages m certain .industries had been brought about by tliemselves. High, wages had been paid by certain employers and the Arbitration Court had taken them as the standard. The shearers’ award, however, at the present time l was based on the price of wool and sheep were being shorn at a lower rate than last year. He thought the remedy for the existing state of affairs in the dairy industry would be to have a sliding scale of wages on the prices of products. Mr. Christie moved that- the Arbitration Act be amended in the direction oi providing for compulsory conciliation ami optional arbitration. The motion was carried. Mr. F. Waite, M.P.. reiterated the statement that the Arbitration Court was only one of the things they had to consider. All sorts of costs were increasing—interest, Government taxation and local bo-dy taxation. Parliament would not meet till June and they must act at once. All over New Zealand industries were' closing down because they could not carry on. Sawmilling businesses in Ota mi and Southland were closing down this month because they could not sell their timber. He moved that the Government be asked to call together at the earliest moment a. national economic conference representative of the primary producers, manufacturers, financial institutions and employers to decide on some methods of reducing overhead costs so that the industries of the country may continue.

Mr. Robertson seconded the motion, which was carried.