WAGES IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22685, 24 March 1937, Page 15

WAGES IN NEW ZEALAND

INCREASE OF £14,000,000

HON. H. T. ARMSTRONG'S CLAIM

An increase in one year of £l-1.000,000 in the total wages paid to employees in New Zealand—a direct result of the legislation of the Government—was claimed by the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, Minister of Labour, at a gathering I given in his honour by the East Christchurch branch of the Labour Party, i The Government had a fairly good indication of the wages that were being paid through the wages tax, said the Minister, and the increase in revenue from this source indicated that £14.000,000 more was now being' paid in wages than was the case a year ago. This, he considered, was the real cause of the present prosperity—the increased purchasing power and wealth of the working class. "When the legislation was introduced, continued the Minister, employers, particularly retailers, could see nothing but "red ruin" in it. Shopkeepers had come to him saying that the new Labour policy meant disaster to them and the closing of their doors. They had predicted that if the legislation reached the statute book they would be bankrupt. The increased wages which the retailers had to pay to their employees was but a "drop in the ocean" compared with the increased sales they would make and the increased spending power of the working classes; Today business was brisker than it had been for 20 year* in the Dominion. Similarly, concluded Mr. Armstrong, it had been predicted that the legislation would result in many New Zealand factories closing. Instead, many of them had been extended, and 'tens of thousands of additional employees were working in them.