THE CLERKS' UNION AND FEMALE LABOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14845, 23 November 1911, Page 5

THE CLERKS' UNION AND FEMALE LABOUR.

Sir—Just a short space to correct a state,„„'V»dß bv Mr. D. Goldie on the above <;.. question * iK ay£l that 5 lady clerks are nrettv frequently employed at salaries rangng from iOa to 40s per week. Now, I diallonee Mr. Goldie. to. wove that even 10 per cent, of the lady clerks jn Auckland are drawing 30s per week, let atone 40s. tfo. doubt Mr. Goldie pays his lady clerk good wages, and assumes that every other -firm pays ; likewise. Then j again, out of the largeness " of his heart Mr. Goldie thinks that the slow male worker would suffer if the union's proposals are carried. Now, sir, 1 am not aware that business houses are philanthropic ; insti- , tutions, and employ alow men f out of charity. * I think that business houses under, the present conditions will take a, smart clerk in preference to the ■ slow man, for both now command the .same wages. The slow, or incompetent, clerk is,, 'therefore, the man, at the present time out of work, so I cannot see how his position is to bo made any woise if the comoetent clerk is given a living wane. Mr. Goldie is very fond of harping about men ,;! working by the sweat of.their brow, but he must know that the ; clerk who ' sits'oh'• his stool from eight a.m. until after i nine p.m. 'at night, has worked as hard, it not harder, than the man with the pick and shovel, with this difference, that at the end of the week the man on the road ha i been earning his 9s or 10s a day for eight hours, 2nd the man at the desk about 2si 6d pw dayless. ■:. .'' ■ * "