LIVING ON THE RAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15551, 7 March 1914, Page 7

LIVING ON THE RAND.

INTERESTING COMPARISON.

WAGES NOT UNREASONABLE,

UNREST AMONG NATIVES.

CAUSE OF THE TROUBLE

MASTERS AND UNIONS.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.

Capetown, March 6. The report by the Chapman Commission finds that the cost of living on the Rand is 40 per cent, higher than in the United States, and 80 per cent, higher than in Europe. Wages, on the other hand, are 10 per cent, higher than in the United States, and 225 per cent, higher than in Europe, but as the miners labour under many disadvantages, their wages arc held to be not unreasonable. Competition between whites, natives, and Indians in the skilled trades is said to be negligible. The Standard Wage. The report discountenances the official decreeing of a standard I wage. Voluntary agreements be- ! tween employers and workers are more satisfactory. While it is essential that the employers should | recognise the trades unions, the report recommends the protection of I non-unionists. It states that white I strikers have caused considerable un- | rest among the natives. ' Shorter hours arc also recom- | mended, with higher pay for overi time. I Second Line of Defence. ! j The Commission describes the. I Federation of Trades Unions as a ; sccond line of defence against in- | dustrial war, and urges the employ- ' ers not to refuse to meet the federa- : tion.

The Commission is unable to conceive why the Federation officials were refused recognition as the men s professional representatives. It considers that the demand that trades unions should forego political activities is outside the question, but that any over-persuasion in recruiting for the unions involving violence, or other illegal action should be sternly repressed.