MONDAY, APRIL 28, 1924. SERVICE AND PAYMENT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLIV, Issue XLIV, 28 April 1924, Page 4

MONDAY, APRIL 28, 1924. SERVICE AND PAYMENT.

— | What wages should people be paid? ■ It is an old, old question, and we sup- , pose that it will never be answered to the satisfaction of everybody, for the • word wages comprehends the payment received by every person. A worker lost in the Sahara, hungry and thirsty, would be ready to give his last penny for a few slices of bread and butter' and a glass of water. But make the | bread and butter and water plentiful < and he will murmur if he be called i upon to pay what he regards as too high a price for them. Similarly, if a '■ rich man were lost in a great city and it was of the utmost importance that he should reach a distant place by a certain hour, would he not be ready j to .pay well for the help of the one 1 person who could direct him in the way that would take him in the shortest time to the place to which he desired j to go? It is all a.matter of the value of the service performed. Obviously all services rendered by man to man are not of equal value, and no combination of one section or another will • necessarily add to that value. A big merchant may make a margin of profit (in other words his wages) by selling the articles in which he deals at a certain price. He does a service which is valued at a definite amount. I But other merchants come to him and point out that if they all combine they can fixr:a higher profit, but they do not necessarily improve the service they are giving; in fact, there is likely to be a tendency to give a poorer service because of the removaJ of competition. ' A similar move is made by the wage-| ! worker. He combines with his fellowI workers, and they form unions and j associations in order to secure higher | wages. Neither side has, it will be , noticed, combined primarily for the I purpose of giving better service to the I community a-s a whole, but in order to gain something. From whom will this gain be derived? Obviously from the j people as a whole. We suppose that | each side could point to certain advantages to the people which such I combinations have brought, but posI sibly the mass of the people could point to disadvantages which increased charges by both sides for services re-n- ---; dered have caused. In modern times .combination and federation have grown j enormously, and there seems to be a grave danger that ultimately there will' be two big unions. New Zealand is fortunately free from trusts and big trade combines. Separate associaj tions of employers and separate unions |of workers may perhaps be eompara- ; tively harmless, but' .where there<*are I federated associations, as in the | United States, and federated unions, ■ there seems to us to be very j grave danger that profits and wages will take first place and- service to the , nation will be relegated to a poor sec- , ond. We need not refer to the growth of the movement towards one big I union qf workers i^ New Zealand, • for , those who have lived in the Dominion for the last couple of decades cannot fail to have noted its growth. There . was a, time when the State services \ were free from the movement, but such is not the case nowadays. We shall I not quote recent opposition to the ißoyement, but it is interesting to re-' call that the Royal Commission which J •in 1914 reported on the Public Service, '. of Great Britain dealt at some length with /the action of associations within the service which, it was believed, had affiliated themselves with similar bodies outside. It recommended that such affiliation should be disallowed, under pain of non-recognition. The Government of France also laid it down some years ago that "no Government will ever accept the combination of racra- . bers of the Public Service with workmen employed in private enterprises, because the combination is neither legitimate nor reasonable." These decisions of two of the Old World nations are interesting at the present time when the influence of the leaders of"? an outside combination of unions is increasing the difficulties with which . the Government is faced in the j dispute concerning the rates of pay ! and conditions of its employees. The workers in the services are claim- ■ ing higher wages because they say ' that the cost of living has risen. Their claim raises many interesting quesj tions. Has the increase in the cost of living during the past twelve months been justified? Should there be such wide differences in food prices 'in different parts of New Zealand?, Is there profiteering? Are the work-' ers making the claims giving fair service? Are there cases of overstaffing? * Are too many highly paid officials be- j ing retained? Are the services being managed on thoroughly up-to-date lines? Would they show better revenue returns if the systems of management were altered ? These are some of the questions that come to mind m think-i ing of the unfortunate disputes that} are causing the Government and people ' much trouble and anxiety. The layman j cannot -say what the wages and salaries to Government servants should be, but the layman does know that neither traders nor workers can take out of a. bottle more than it contain. Neither denunciation of the workers nor a foolish strike will settle -n.o nr .<.~+; nn 0 f a f a j r ra i e Q f wa g eg f /f> b<> nail. but- of one thing we are-cer-tain—the position cannot be solved by

i mere increase in income or wages unless (and this is the important point) such increase is the direct result >f increased labour and output. If the wage-earhers in general are told the truth—namely, that the only possible way to better things is by instant economy and increased industry—' those who may not be, in ths ordinary ' sense of the word, wage-earners, and who may even have the wherewithal to continue the present rate of consump-' tion no matter how high prices are,' must hold their hands in the matt«r of. wasteful outlays, or take their share of responsibility^ for the calamities which will follow through not having given the lead which is so greatly] needed at the present time. A greatl many people have yet to learn and prac-! tise real economy, and it is largely because, of failure to do so tiiat there is so much discontent.