WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1904, LABOR CONDITIONS IN NEW ZEALAND.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 7872, 6 January 1904, Page 2

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1904, LABOR CONDITIONS IN NEW ZEALAND.

Some time ago Dr Victor Clark, under instructions 'from the Government of the United States, visited New Zealand to make enquiries into the social and economic condition of the people in this cplony, and copes of his report having come out are . being read with interest. It h£s not been our fprtune to see a popyaf the report, but in the Christchurch Press there are printed some extracts which are of interest, and convey a moral which Van be applied from two entirely .different po.ints of view. The extracts we hg.ve seen deal with the relative cost of living in New Zealand and the United States., Dr Clark, it may be premised, made his enquiries in quite an impartial spirit. . He was not paid by the Government to write a book, it is not suggested that he got a bonus from the Government, like one or two American writers have, and it is said .'that he went to various political sources for some information, but that above all he used his own. powers of observation independently of any persons, and has written just what he gathered from personal observation, giving indisputable facts and figures in support of his statements. The conclusion he has arrived at is, that the cost of living in New Zealand is dearer than it is in the States, and that as a corollary nominally high wages do not necessarily mean great saving power for the working man. In general terms he states his conclusion that " it is generally agreed that nominal wages fell gradually from iBBc- to 1895, and that they have risen decidedly since that time. But the latter movement has been accompanied by an equally decided rise in prices, which may have left real wages very evenly where they were before." This conclusion" we think fits in with the judgment of people who, though they have no means of getting official figures, see the tendencies in every day life. Then he goes on tc show that (C real wages " are now lower in New Zealand than they are in the United States. He quotes the cost of house rent, of board and lodging (of various classes), then the price of meat, hacon and hams, bread, vegetables, fresli' fruits and canned fruits, clothing of various sorts, and though of course there are variations generally the comparison is in favor of" the United Spates up to something like 25 per cent. The figures he quotes as ruling in the colony are all approximately correct," and there is ' every reason for supposing that the comparison is in every respect accurate. As we said, different inferences mqy be drawn from the '< [acts. It may^e argued that the increase in the wages has arisen 1 from the necessities of the workers to get more money to enable them ' to Jive on the same plane as before the increase in the cost of living, ( and that therefore the Arbitration I Act in so far as it has enabled them to do this has justified itself. \ Or on the other hand it may be said that the increase in wages so \ Far as Jt has l>e.en influenced by « tne Arbitration Court has *been i accompanied by an artificial en- 1 hancement of the cost of living which .has to a very great extent J neutralised the nominal increase mr wages. It is very difficult to get } f it the exact truth in these mat- , ters, but the fact remains that j In the opinion of a -brained ob- < server the working man in New a 2e.ala.nd in spite of all^ the legisla- i tipn for encouraging and fostering <■ inionism f.jj really not so well oft * is he js in; America, where accord- l ng' to Foster. Frasef's book, j I America at Wpfk," unionism is , i#Jdoirt heard of and plays a very { imall part in industrial life. Some x lay we shall learn that legislation liter all has not much .practical sffect on the real rates of wages, my more than it has on the rate ,] rt interest. n