COST OF LIVING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 7 April 1922, Page 5

COST OF LIVING

EFFECT OF THE FALL , SUGGESTED REDUCTION IN WAGES ARBITRATION COURT’S PRO■■"'NOUNCEMENT FURTHER DETAILS 0 (United Press Association) WANGANUI, April 5 The Arbitration Court has made a pronouncement on the cost of living for the six months ending 31st March as affecting the wages of workers under awards and industrial agreements, with the exception of a few industries where there are special circumstances. The pronouncement is as follows : The Court, in pursuance of the provisions of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act, 1921-22 has investigated the movement in the cost of living between the six-monthly period, April-Septcmber, 1290, and the six-monthly period October, 1921-March, 1922, The rates of wages at present payable under awards of the Court are baaed on the ascertained cost of living for the half-year ended September. 1920. The accumulated bonus then declared represented an increase of 15s per week on the standard wage of March, 1919. The actual amount ordered to he paid was, however, 13s, a reduction of 2s having been made to balance past over-pay-ment. ARRIVING AT A BASTS The Court has on this occasion, as in the past, covered the whole field of the cost of living. We particularly mention this matter as an impression appears to bo current that the Court considers only statistics relating to food, or to the food, vent, and fuel and light groups. The Court adopts tho official figures of the Government Statistician in respect of these groups, and also obtains returns in respect of price movements in clothing and miscellaneous commodities and soy* vices for which no official statistics are available. These are compared with their proper weighting with the official figures for other groups, so as to give tho movement on the cost of living as a whole. It must be borne in mind that all tho statistics with which wo arc dealing relate to retail prices. They are an accurate index of the movement in the cost of living for so long as the average family spends the same relative amount on each commodity listed. In norma! times domestic budgets vary from year tp year, and the tendency is actuated in times of abnormal and irregular fluctuations in prices. Such changes in the distribution of family expenditure do not necessarily involve any alteration in tho standard of living, but they have tho effect of rendering retail prices statistics an approximate instead of an-exact measure of the movement of the cost of living. As family expenditure budgets, on which the present, statistics are based, were collected in ,1912, they cannot now be regarded as entirely satisfactory. Food, rent, fuel, and light together account for nearly 60 per cent, of the .total expenditure of an average family. Clothing, which includes personal clothing, household linen, and drapery, and boots and shoes, accounts for 13.89 per cent., and miscellaneous household requirements, medical and other fees, train and tram fares, newspapers, and periodicals, and other items of a general nature make up the remaining 26.45 per cent. ' ■ THE. CLOTHING PROBLEM As in tho past, thc Court has had to base its information in regard to the clothing group on the prices of skeleton schedule of, articles which was reasonably: Representative of the whole group while general prices werc_ uniformly increasing. Latterly this information had to he supplemented by estimates 'owing to the unevenness of the nfovenient in prices of . commodities Within the group, which paused .the jsphedule.to lose its representative character. We may (add in passing that rapid bliabges' in fashions and qualities have alwkys made it impossible to construct reliable , statistics .of clothing prices, but we have how adopted a schedule which is representative and well balanced, and is sufficiently, complete to. obviate the necessity for recourse to estimates. It' covers thirteen items_ of women’s and girls’ overwear, five items of women’s and girls underwear, fifteen items of household drapery, and nine items of footwear and repairs. MISCELLANEOUS GROUP In regard to the miscellaneous expenditure grouo, the Court' has felt for some time past that 26.45 per cent, ol thp total expenditure of a family was too large an.item to be covered by an estimate- We have obtained accurate data in regard to .the price movements of household furnishings,, household ironmongery, brush v/are, and sundries (32 diems), mockery, train and tram fares, newspapers and periodicals. Which, together, make up 13 per cent, of domestic ‘ expenditure, thus leaving only 13.45 per cent, for which no definite information is' available. The _ items comprising this portion of the miscellaneous group represent expenditure on insurance, medical, dental, and legal fees, subscriptions to lodges, dubs, religious bodies, charity, etc., sport and recreation,. and casual expenditure, of various descriptions that cannot be classified. We have assumed that the movement m respect of this sub-groop is the average of tho groups covef'Sd. The adoption of improved methods for ascertaining the movements of prices m the clothing and miscellaneous groups, and a temporary, tendency to steadying prices in certain lines, have caused the fall in .the .cost of living to appear to he less thmi was generally anticipated. New schedules have however, enabled . us to arrive at a reasonably accurate determination of'.the: extent of the movement in the cost of livings in so far as, at all events, retail prices can he taken as an index of the cost of living. ACTUAL REDUCTION FIVE SHILLINGS Comparing the two half-yearly geriods, April-September, 1920, and ctober, 1921, March, 1922, we find that the cost of living measured in wages’ has fallen to an extent that would reduce the accumulated bonus of 15s per week to 8a per week, that is, by 7s per week. As, however, 13s was paid instead of 15a, the actual reduction is 5s per week. The Court has discriminated between adult males, adult females, and juniors in awarding past bonuses, and if the same principle is followed in reducing . wages tho amount of tho reduction will be as under:— Mult males 5a per week. Adult females •• 2s 6d per week Juniors -1® °d P ol ‘ vveck. The Court, in computing past bonuses and alterations, has used six-monthly figures. For the purpose of comparison w-e have mad§ an alternative , .computation' based on''monthly, figures. If the Wares lor March, '1922, -are taken instead of the six-monthly Raving average for the period October 1921-March the reduction is greater by 2s per week week Hu tljte caskTof adult females and juniors: ... This pronouncement is in no sense a determinatidn of the question whether,

or to what extent, wages are to ho reduced. It is simply a statement of wlntt the movement in the cost of living represents in wages. The Court will sit at Wellington on 26th April, to hear representatives of the employers and _thc workers in regard to other considerations that should weight with the Court in determining whether wages arc to be reduced, and, if so, by what. BONUSES AND BASIC RATES NO DISTINCTION MADE (United Press Association) WANGANUI, April 5 It is interesting to note in connection with the Arbitration Court’s pronouncement that the Act makes no distinction between bonuses and basic rates, so that any reduction will come off the total rate of remuneration in each ease. The pronouncement now issued is only a determination of ascertainment of the movement, in the cost of living, and has no "legal effect in itself. Tim (Yurt has fixed 26th April as the day when it will hear argument in regard to any proposed reduction of wages, and the general order for (he reduction linn Illy decided upon will,not be made until after that bergang. Any . general order made will nof'takc effect until early in May. REDUCTION TO BE OPPOSED WELLINGTON, This Day. A representative meeting of all trade union organisations in Wellington was held last night to consider what steps are to he taken in connection with the proposed reduction in wages _ which comes before the Court on April 26th. It was decided to combat the reduction, and it is proposed to act in conjunction with the Alliance of Labour.