WAGES REDUCTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21153, 9 April 1932, Page 13

WAGES REDUCTIONS.

GRADUATED SCALE. RATES FOR CIVIL SERVICE. FROM 5 TO 12* PER CENT. OPERATIVE FROM APRIL 1. [BY TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON, Friday. Salary reductions are dealt with in the first section of the National Expenditure Adjustment Bill, which was read a first time in tho House of Representatives to-day. The bill, which is a most comprehensive measure of 55 clauses, defines salary to mean salary, wages, allowances, fees, commission and every other emolument received by any person to whom the bill applies, but it does not include travelling expenses or any allowance in respect of board or lodging or use of quarters, or any fee, commission, or other emolument which the Minister of Finance may declare not; to be salary, or any superannuation or retiring allowance. Governor-General Excluded. The bill does not apply to the GovernorGeneral nor to any person employed by the Government or by any other authority for a specific limited term of office by contract made out of New Zealand, but it does apply specifically to the High Commissioner for New Zealand and also to officers and seamen who have been transferred from the British Navy to the /New Zealand Division of the Navy, provided always that no reduction in pay of these naval men shall be greater than they would have received had they remained members of the King's naval forces at Home. The salary cuts covered by the bill are made retrospective to April 1. So far as salaries of Ministers of the Crown and members of Parliament are concerned, the reductions are as follows : (a) Ministers of the Crown are reduced by 15 per cent. (b) The Speaker of the House of Representatives is reduced by per cent. (c) Tlie Speaker of the Legislative Council and the Chairman of Committees of loth Houses are reduced by 10 per cent. (d) Other members of Parliament are reduced by 10 per cent.

General Application. Other members of the Civil Service, including the Public Service Commissioner, t.ne Comptroller and Auditor-Gen-eral, and members of the Railways Board tre reduced on the following basis: — (a) Where the salary on March 31 was less than £225, the reduction shall be 5 per cent. (b) Where the salary on March 31 was more than £225 and not more than £720, the reduction is to be 10 per cent. <c) Where the salary at March 31 exceeded £720, the reduction is to be 12j per cent. Provision is made that no person's lalary shall be reduced below the rate Dow to lie paid to anyone who was lower CD the <icale than himself when the cut Was made. If a person holds two or more oliices to which the bill applies, tbe cut is to bo Blade on tho aggregate salary received. Where salaries or emoluments are considered by tho Minister of Finance not t° be calculable on an annual rate, the reduction shall be 10 per cent. Overtime as Salary. Money received in overtime since April 1) and to be received henceforward, is considered as salary and is subject to cuts. money is granted by the Consolidated Fund to education boards, govern'ng bodies of secondary schools, university colleges or other institutions and used . r payment of salaries, it shall be subject to reductions, according to grading as outlined in tho bill. Where these Plants are only partly payable in salaries, , ® Minister of Finance may determine much shall be subject to tho cut. All subsidies payable by the State to °cal authorities under the Municipal Corporations .Act. 1920, or to hospital boards the Hospitals and Charitable Instiutions Act, 1926, or to fire boards under "e Fi re Brigades Act, 1926,. or to tho otorua Borough Council under the special legislation of 1922. are reduced by _P er cent, as from April 1. 'Contributors to the Superanuation n d may, by giving notice before Sep-

on a basis as if their salaries were not reduced. This will entitle them to benefits on a higher scale. Any person who has been contributing on the higher rate since tho salary cut of last year may continue to pay in on that basis, or he may contribute on the basis of his salary as at April 1 this year. Superannuation will be calculated inglyAny accumulation of contributions representing the difference in salaries will be held by the Superannuation Board and paid out in addition to the retiring allowance at the proper time. Saving provisions are added, giving stipendiary magistrates power to authorise deductions in respect of retiring allowance on the basis of their salaries at March 31 last year or March 31 this year, whichever they desire. Salary increments according to classification of the public service, which would usually operate f-om April 1, are cancelled by the bill. The salary reductions are to remain in force until altered by legislation. Power is vesied in the GovernorGeneral to make uny regulations that are necessary, particularly in relation to the adjustment of ancmalies or for the relie? of hardship. The bill may, by Order-in-Councu, he applied to all persons employed in the Cook Islands Public Service and the Samoan Public Service, the date of the salary reductions to be specified in the Order-in-Council. Questions of dispute over salary reductions are to be settled by the Minister of Finance.

GENERAL WAGE-EARNER. ARBITRATION BILL POWERS. MR. FORBES STATES POSITION. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL BEFOItTER.] WELLINGTON, Friday. Doubts have been expressed whether the Government proposes to legislate in the direction of a general reduction of wages, in additicn- to imposing further cuts in civil servants' salaries. Asked to define the position, the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, said this evening ;hat the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill provided the machinery for, a revision of wages outside the Civil Service, and it was not necessary to go further in that connection. SAVINGS BANK DEPOSITS. FIXING INTEREST RATES. INVESTMENT SOCIETIES ALSO. [BY TELEGRAPH. SPECIAL REPORTER.] ■WELLINGTON. Friday. The maximum rates of interest on deposits payable by savings banks, building and investment societies and trading companies are to be regulated according to special provisions in the National Expenditure Adjustment Bill, which was introduced in tho House of Representatives to-day.

It is prescribed that the maximum rates of "interest paid by the trustees of any savings bank on deposits may be fixed by Order-in-Council up to the end of March, 1935. The Order-in-Council may fix different/ rates with respect to different classes of deposits, or according to the amount of any deposit, and the Order-in-Council may apply to future deposits or to existing deposits. Similar provisions apply to the fixing of the maximum rates of interest on deposits with any building society, or rates paid by an investment, society being a company, society or association formed for the pnrpose of investing borrowed moneys, and not being a trading company. In future, tho annual statement of building societies' accounts, which must be made according to tho present law, must include a statement showing the rate or several rates of interest payable on deposits held by the society and the total amount in respect of which each such rate is payable. 'J'he final section of the bill deals with trading companies, and the GovernorGeneral may, by Order-in-Council, also fix the maximum ratos of interest payable by them on deposits held. The provisions in this respect an 3 similar to those covering savings banks and building or investment societies. Any Order-in-Council may relate to any specified trading company or to all such companies. Trading companies accepting deposits must prepare quarterly statements giving particulars of the amounts borrowed and the rates of interest paid on the deposits. The first statement shall be prepared on July 1 of this year and a copy of all statements must be transmitted to the Minister of Finance. A penalty of £IOO is provided for a breach of this requirement or for falsification of returns.

This part of the bill shall not apply to any bank carrying on business under the Banking Act, 1908, the Post Office Savings Bank, or any local authority or public body.