NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19879, 24 February 1928, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

WAGES IN AMERICA. "The American theory is that not the wage for any given unit of time, but the labour cost of the unit of output, is the crux of the wage question, and that high productivity, high wages and high purchasing power are elements of prosperity," said Mr. J. S. Alexander, chairman of the National Bank of Commerce,, in his address at its annual meeting. "But it does not follow that wages can advance uninterruptedly. Labour costs per unit must keep pace with rising wages. This is exemplified by the position of the railroads, lyhich in recent years have shown what can be done in improving earnings by increased operating efficiency.' Of late, there are evidences that for the time being they have gone about' as far as they can go in this direction, and that higher wages from now on will mean lowered earnings. Yet even now many of the railroads are not earning enough to put them into a satisfactory position for the betterment and extension of their facilities. We have . apparently reached a point where the question of whether or not the country remains prosperous indefinitely will depend to a. considerable extent on the thorough understanding by labour of the facts as to the national and international competitive situation." RECONDITIONING SLUMS. Legislation dealing with the slum problem in British cities is expected this year. "It may not be possible under existing financial conditions, and So long as a shortage of houses to be let at low rents still remains acute, to clear slums. But Mr Neville Chamberlain hopes to bring forward a measure to help to clean slums," says the Architects' Journal. "Where houses, however shabby and dilapidated they may appear on the surface, are in good structural condition, or even if they have only a temporary life, it may well be worth while to clean them up or, to use Mr. Neville Chamberlain's language, to adopt a policy of reconditioning. This is, of course, no new plan. There is practical experience, that where the structure is sound, and where the number of houses to be reconditioned is sufficiently large to admit of the overhead charges being kept down as low as possible, then it may be very remunerative_. Mr. Neville Chamberlain's slum policy will no doubt be based on the following recommendation incuded in the report of the Committee on Unhealthy Areas, over which he presided some years ago: Tending reconstruction, unhealthy areas might be materially improved if they were purchased by local authorities on terms equitable to present owners, but not prohibitive in cost, and the houses therein altered, repaired and managed on the Octavia Hill system.' "

DISABLED EX-SERVICE MEN. Among Hie last public actions of Lord Haig was the issue of a New Year appeal on behalf of disabled ex-service men seeking employment. Their number he statedas 21,000 —"far too large for any of us to be content with it." Lord Haig wrote as president of the King's 801 l National Council. "The King's Roll of employers who guarantee that a percentage of their employees shall be disabled ex-service men now has 27,500 employers on the roll, giving work to approximately 380,000 disabled ex-service men," ho said. "All tho Government departments and most of the municipal and other public bodies are on tho roll. There is still, however, a number of local authorities, public companies and firms of substantial size who are not enrolled, though in some cases perhaps they are giving employment to the requisite percentage of disabled ex-service men. It requires only a small effort on behalf of each of those to clear our registers of disabled men who want work. Most of the disabled men on the register can do a good day's work, though some are heavily handicapped and allowances havo to be made for them. For the severely disabled men, institutions like Lord Roberts' Memorial Workshops a.nd the Enhara Village Centre are doing all that their present'funds will allow. Any assistance to these institutions of course helps to reduce the problem. My present appeal is: —First, to all employers who are not yet on the roll to consider seriously whether they cannot tako on one or two more disabled men, and sq qualify. Secondly, to all those who may be in a position to employ additional disabled men and so help even more than they have in tho past. Wo do not forget what we owe to these men. It would be very fitting if, before New Year's resolutions slip away into the background, we resolve to help to pay our debt in the most practical manner, by helping to put every one of these men in the way of gaining his own livelihood and enabling him to feel that he is again an active member of the community he helped to