Bankers and Toilers

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 301, 6 December 1922, Page 4

Bankers and Toilers

When the Arbitration Court heard .-evidence mi the;* advisability x>i .modifying its-decision m favour of -the -9/-=j tonus, Mr. Harold Beauchamp. r then chairman of the- Eaiik; ©f New Zealand, .swore that industry "was breaking , under.] the strain of the -" high wages • 9 paid to the workers. like 'the bankers in other .parts .of the world,-.he sang tire-swan | gong " wages must.come down.? , Xtei.trhe-Btrength of cvi- ] feice such as Ms, the Court reduced the 9/- bonus to 3/- in order that industry might regain what is called "prosperity" in the parlance of the. profiteers. . The bofcus having , ' been reduced, Mr. .'Beauchamp, if we may be' permitted a little verbal license, Mcd himself .-off to a meeting of the! 'Associated Banks, and decided to have the Bank Bate in- j 'greased. In effect, they determined that the industry that .could not pay an extra few shillings-weekly to its WORK-:; ;EBS could pay more interest to the .SHAREEQIiBERS in j $he Banks;, Then came the Court's farcical " stabilisa-i! tion n judgment, in lieu of s 5/--bonus, to which the workers were L.E&ALLY entitled, the stabilisation, of course, Jbeing treated'-like a " mere scrap of paper " the moment! is suited the. powers that- lie. The -workers again being | Seaied their just-dues, and industry thus being 'able.-to pay Wore Interest, the Bank Rate was once more lifted, this iime to 7 per cent., at which figure it has stood ever since..-. iWe hope the workers -and THE MANUFACTURERS: ; AND wilL-Temember this. The "-relief ,, . granted to these latter sections of the community by reductions in wages was immediately snapped up by the Banks, whose increase in interest was paid hy a lessened' jfood supply, decreased clothing,.less of their little,-pleasures; $©■ the-workers whose toil produced the nation's wealth, [ And while industry was , 'faced with "-bankruptcy, and, the.! were condemiiec! to poverty by successive dcci- j vions of the Arbitration 'Court, "the Banks, without tion, were declaring-dividends twice "and thrice as great as before the war to hang the Kaiser and save the world for democracy.' To cap/all, for their .promise_ to reduce '(afterthe elections).the .Bankßate -J percent., had to reduce- their-income tax. To check this class greed we iftusf have a BABS OWtFEJ}- BY THE WATIOH., jVote -for -Labour against Mammon. ' - - . ■ ; : !