INDUSTRY, WAGES AND PROFIT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVIII, Issue 18599, 29 December 1920, Page 9

INDUSTRY, WAGES AND PROFIT.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—ln a printed report of the Board of Trade, just to hand, on the woollen milling companies of tho Dominion, I notice that the wages paid tho 1410 hands employed in 1910-11 was £137,161, and in 1918-19 tho hands employed numbered 1878, and the wages paid amounted to £‘133,170, whereas tho value of the product or output rose from £377,713 in 1910-11 to £956,434 in 1918-19. The report says the average percentage war increase in tho wages ot adult male workers lias been approximately 65 pbr cent. U ages or. adult female workers has only increased by 62.84 per cent, although, the coat of living for “ all groups ” lias in-* creased by 80 per cent. Still more significant is tho fact that wages m proportion to the cost of manufacture has declined, as the folowmg table will

Tlio above table, representing the figures available for’ nine out of the ten woollen companies in the; Dominion, shows clearly that wages iii this industry have not kept pace with the increase in tlio value of the maniiiactured articles. . . That profits havo not lagged behind is evidenced by the fact that the_ gi'oss profit of the combined companies m 1914 was £305,63u. while in 1919 they amounted to £729.061. the net profits being stated at £85,854 in 1914 and £242,721 in 1919. Tile total wages paid in 1918-19 was £233,170, while the gross profits of 1919 exeoeded tho gross profits of 1914 bv £423,331, atul the gross profits in 1918 'were higher still, amounting in all t* £742,737. The net profits for the nine companies for which the figures are available are stated aa follows Year. Net profit. £ 1914 . . . 85.854 1918 t ... 255,637 1919 . . . . 242,721 The net profits in nine Pollen mills in 1918 and 1919 exceeded the total wages paid to tho 1900 hands omployod in the ten woollen mills in the Dominion, and an increase of 10 per cent in wages, which the 9s bonus represented, would not have increased the total wages bill by moro than £23,000. The excess of net profits in 1918 ovor the profits of 1914 amount to £170,000. and in 1919 to £157,000. The highly prosperous condition of the woollen industry would bo much more a matter for rejoicirig if the figures did not show a. decline in " real ” as distinguished from “ nominal ” wages, and that, too. at a. time when net profits havo trebled. Unless reasonable living wages are paid, and those responsible for running otiv secondary industries share their prosperity with the workers engaged in the industries, our secondary industries cannot and will not receive tho sympathetic support of all sections of the community.—l am, etc., J. M’COMBS.

show: — Percentage wages to cost of manufacture. Mill. 1911. 1919. A 38.63 32.49 , B 0 31.82 27.01 31.SS 26.48 |> 31.12 2o.7S "E 36.16 30.66 * F . 39.02 33.33 (i 36.32 34.28 H 31.33 27.86 L 23.37 19.87