MARRIAGE AND SALARIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18772, 28 July 1924, Page 5

MARRIAGE AND SALARIES.

Sir,—"A Mere Man ' suggests that girls' salaries should be reduced and the so-called equality considerably curtailed to that state that existed 30 years ago. In those days women were brought up to look to marriage as their means; of livelihood. To-day a, man does not find it so easy to get a cheap housekeeper. He certainly can' get a good housekeeper if he is willing to pay her, but in most cases a man expects a woman to be cook, housemaid, laundress, nurse, and everything else, free, simply because he has smiled on her and made her his wife. But times have changed,. and for the better, for . today (speaking generally) a woman marries a man because !/he loves him, and if she does not marry it i3 l because she hau not met the one she feels should would like to live the rest of her life with. It would not solve the problem to reduce girls' and single men's salaries. Personally! cannot see the justice or sense in giving a man a higher salary to get married. Happy is the man indeed that finds his right mate, but that is no reason why others should go short. No, the problem is a deeper one. I have always been an advocate for equal pay for equal work. Then I would suggest a graduated tax on all salaries, the tax automatically to cease on the arrival of the first-born child. This tax" should be used as pensions for children, thus giving every child a,fair start in life. Incidentally, I believe this would do away,with a deal of unemployment and would make for happier marriages., A.W.