WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14006, 10 March 1920, Page 1

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

(Special Correspondent,) INSISTENT RAILWAYIIEN. ' DEMAND FOR AIJEQTATE PAY. WELLINGTON, -March 8. The raiiwaymen in the "Wellington district are just a little more insistent than those in other, parts of the Dominion in the demand for an increase iu the wages of members of the service. At n meeting of the Thorndon branch of the A.S.R.S. held yesterday a resolution expressing regret at the failure of Parliament, the Government and the Wages Board to "recognise the urgency of the question, and demanding a minimum wage of 18s a day, was adopted unanimously, and iliqse present pledged themselves to support the Executive in any steps it might take, "no matter how extreme," u> obtain justice from the authorities. The men are very much in earnest. They have shown that many members i»f the serrice are. receiving less than a living wage, that they are running into debt for the bare necessaries of life, and that a continuance of the exi.si.ing state of affairs will be intolerable. STRIKE!

The men claim, with some justice, /iiat during the war they "carried on" under conditions which no other large .'.ody of workers was asked to endure, and that their patriotism instead of •icing recognised by the authorities is | now lieing urged as a reason for leaving them with inadequate pay. They pride themselves upon having passed throng]: a very trying period without talking "strike," hut they are finding now, so they say, that their patience has been misunderstood and that if their latest representations are ignored they will have to adopt more drastic measures. There can be no doubt that the position is-an extremely critical one. The "go-slow" policy hinted at by the same branch of the A.S.R.S. seems to be in actual operation on certain sections and the whole service i*-: seriously disturbed. The .Minister himself is gravely concerned. THE COST OF LIVING.

! It is. of course, the continued increase in the cost of living that has driven the rnilwnymen from protests to threats. . Idealising the soundness of the economic axiom that cheap, commodities are of more importance to the workers than high wages, they have held their hand in the hope that with the conclusion of the war prices would approach more nearly to normal rates. Hut instead of this happening, prices have continued to soar, and it is a fact that railway workers with families, whose lower wages were ample for their requirements before the war, Jre now steadily getting behind with tiieir payments to their tradesmen and suffering nil the anxiety and humiliation of being unable to make their income and tiieir expenditure balance. Men m this position cannot afford to be very tolerant of delay, and unless I They obtain relief in the near future tiie result may he extremely uncom- ■ fortnble lor the community. | THE PRIME MINISTER'S I BURDEN.

The task of dealing with the perplexing problems involved in this critical situation is failing almost entirely upon Mr Massey, who,, it would seem", is receiving little assistance from either his colleagues or the Board of Trade. The hoard after its meeting with the millers and linkers in Christchurch approved of an advance of £3 a ton in the price of flour and 2d in the price of bread, but the Prime Minister vetoed these proposals ands now is at loggerheads with the bakers, some of whom are refusing the accept tiie smaller advance "in the price of • bread he has offered. Their alternative is to cease baking— ty strike themselves, in fact—and now, in turn, liiey are being taken to task by the 'Welfare League who deprecates the employers following the bad example oi the workers. Altogether Mr Massey's lot at the moment is very far from being a happy one, but he is playing the part of the strong man and doubtless will find a way out of die trouble.