Manawatu Daily Times [ESTABLISHED 21st MAY, 1875.] MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1921. THE PRUNING KNIFE.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 1978, 21 November 1921, Page 4

Manawatu Daily Times [ESTABLISHED 21st MAY, 1875.] MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1921. THE PRUNING KNIFE.

The announcement made by the Prime Minister that it is proposed to reduce the salaries of public servants by 10 per cent down to the £-200 per year man, has created a feeling akin to consternation throughout the public service. The opinion is expressed that the Government is taking 10 per cent from the public servants, who have been living from hand to mouth during the last live or six years, and handing it over to the farmers, who have had a royal innings throughout the period of the war. This is hardly a fair way in which to place the matter. The rebate to farmers is being made because hundreds of the farms are over-valued, and because taxation has been enormously increased in order to pay the interest on war loans and provide pensions for soldiers and other dependants. The farmers may have had a good innings in the aggregate. But they simply cannot bear the burden at present imposed upon them, and, if they are driven to bankruptcy, a condition of industrial chaos will be created throughout the Dominion. It is to avoid such a calamity as this that the Government proposes a rebate of 10 per cent in the taxation. So far as the public servants are concerned, they have either to submit to a reduction in salaries or have their ranks reduced by fully half. If a vote were taken, it would be found that a reduction in salaries would be preferred to wholesale dismissal. The only point for consideration is whether the retrenchment scheme proposed is equitable and just. There is a strong feeling, particularly among the public ser, vants, that no salary of less than £250 should be attacked, for it is maintained that a married man with a family cannot subsist upon less than £5 a week. Any reduction below this standard would mean that tradesmen’s accounts would go unpaid, and a larger margin of profit would be required to provide against bad and doubtful debts. Moreover, public servants maintain that if their salaries are reduced, the wages of those employed in shops, trades and industries should be correspondingly reduced, so that the cost of living would not press so heavily upon them. This is not an unreasonable attitude to assume in all the circumstances. far as the 10 per cent fixed basis is concerned, it does not commend itself to the general body of public servants, for the reason that it does not entail an equal sacrifice. Many of the higher paid members of the service have had their salaries increased in recent years in a greater ratio than the salaries of the lower paid servants. It is considered, therefore, that the reduction should be 20 per cent in the higher grades, declining on a sliding scale to 5 per cent for those in receipt of £250 per annum. When the matter comes before Parliament in the shape of a Bill, the 10 per cent standard basis of reduction will be so vigorously contested that the Govern, ment will probably see the necessity for abandoning it in favour of a sliding scale in some shape or form.