BAD WAGE SYSTEM

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3278, 12 March 1931, Page 5

BAD WAGE SYSTEM

AUSTRALIA’S HINDRANCE.

AMERICAN’S VIEWS,

What appeals to Mr. C. W. A. Aiken, a Boston consulting engineer, as one of the two principal things which are hindering Australia is the basic wage and wage system as a whole. The other is the enmity between what he calls the “employee’s party” and the rest. But the wage system, with fixed hours and fixed rewards for workers of different efficiency, strikes him most of all as something which if continued will prevent Australia from competing seriously with the world.

He contrasted the Australian wage system with American conditions, saying that in his own country men were paid for what they did. It led to greater efficiency, and gave men an incentive to push ahead for the things they wanted most. Mr. Aiken had a wholesale respect for Australia, and particularly for the working man, who was as good as, or better than, similar employees in any part of the world. “Australia is a wonderful country, and the people are fine,” he said. “But I think it’s about asl badly managed as it could be.” The city seemed to have squeezed the country, and the Labour Party had squeezed the whole thing. Mr. Aiken did not think the people would put up with it for a very long while. The civil servants, both State and Federal, were far too numerous, and wielded, of course, a strong vote. Added to this, everything in the place seemed to belong to the Government. The power plant in Sydney, for instance, had cheap coal available, and should have been able to make cheap steam with a consequent supply of cheap power. In spite of this they were losing money, this year’s loss being estimated at £200,000. Nothing like that would happen if the power supply were in the hands of private enterprise. The same sort of thing, said Mr. Aiken, applied to the tramway systems and railways.