PUBLIC SERVICE SALARIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18466, 30 January 1922, Page 7

PUBLIC SERVICE SALARIES

• j ; - - . • * y■ : . ■. PROTEST AGAINST R!EX>TK7ITON. ' A large audience assembled last 1 ,^yexyj^g K ; at the Empire Theatre, where Mr, ’Moses, ' Ayrton, general secretary of tho. New, Jfiea- = land Labour Party, delivered an'interesting! address oh the problems with which worker* - are faced at the present time. - * ’. Mr Ayrton first made it clear that 'his , motive in coming to Dunedin was to weld together the men whose interests *were 'identical. He also stated that toe,-Labour Party had no objection to too -WrWcers o£,b«{ any other country coming to New Zealand if they were really going to bettor iliem- ' selves and not reduce-the standard Jiving) of -%H4 dpimnioh ; ■ workers. . grahts ftt present {driving had not beenf told, top truth regarding conditions^here, and 'the ' Labour. Party objected •to ' this. 11 The present crisis, declared Mr Ayrton, - was caused by our foolishness in forgetting the' basic fact- that too world ‘.was - one economic ’ unit, and that to boycott .one nation or. body •of men was ' to/ 'ifihkhSTall suffer. Trade oould never be restbred-Uhtil - Europe > waai .restored, and toe-jiTfeaty'! of -.Versaillea- would- he .better sorappbdeb.The ' policy of the, Labour Patty was iivat 1 was a crime. lucre could be. : promise about .that The- world,-be - mode safe, for. democracy,, but now/fh^'men whb had made those promises were dome their best to' restore pre-war oohditiotit instead -of -pressing on towards better' things. The Arbitration Court he declared, was, - being used by the employers for toe purpose, of. reducing wages. jsaa no ■/ . doubt that -Mr Massey and his were very loyal to tli e class they represented—the wheat-growers, sheep-farmers, .. who had had no reason to complain dorms recent years; and’now that - mhnhy'Avaa scarce the Government was adopting in a, ■■ bare-faced manner the policy of purauinjf ‘ •toe line of least resistance by'redttcing'the ’ wages of the workers. Bankers were never asked to reduce'their huge rates of jntereat.... How long; ,Mr Ayrton would in-, ,”i tolligent/men and women bear, withi /bpjng v io'‘the''lt'midS- Of an unscrupulous '-fewff’JWio ’. - ordered'‘their lives for them?- Toc-jbS’t up- - - with the Labour Party was thtf wbrj»?s t , only hope of fair treatment. Bynpolitical' . and' bring, about the necessary altoratjtoßEi-‘>in- ’ stead of being at the mercy of ,who lived by,, exploitation. The 'Party constituted the only opposition to reactionary policies, and if the 'workers would only . open, their, >cyes to this fact - V and give it tlieir' whole-hearted support they could -work out their own- salvation. At the close’ of the meeting the followingresolution was moved by Mr John Gilchrist and seconded 7 by Mr Reddington (representing; the. railway servants) :,-i-££Eh«t toia meeting of representative citizens of. Dun- > edin ■emphatically; condemns tho action of the Government in’; imposing on .toe publio service drastic reduction in salaries _ and wages; and, .further, that in the opmioiii of this meeting the policy of reducing salaries and wages in preference, to increas- ; ing fexation.'onj large unearned incomes is ■ class- .legislation, and contrary to the’. 'will of* the majority ;of the ..people, of this ooun- ,‘j 'try.” ,The motion was carried - On a. show of hands