NEW WAGE RATES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25800, 22 March 1945, Page 4

NEW WAGE RATES

EFFECT ON FIXED PRICES CASE FOR THE FARMER “Now that the door is open for a wholesale revision of awards, the farmer, in common justice, has a right to ask for an increased return for his produce,” said Mr W. Lee, president of the Otago Provincial Council of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, and Mr A. C. Leary, chairman of the Otago Primary Production Council, in a joint statement issued yesterday in regard to the recent wage increase. They added that the farmer’s case was greatly strengthened by the fact that because of stabilisation the Government had arbitrarily held back part of the price paid for produce by the Imperial Government.

Mr Lee and Mr Leary expressed grave concern at the serious repercussions which, in their opinion, were inevitable as a result of the apparent breakdown of stabilisation. “We wholeheartedly agree with the statement issued by the Dominion office of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union,” they stated. “JVe have the greatest sympathy with the man with a family who, during the past few years of rising costs, has endeavoured to make ends meet on a wage approximating £5 a week, but we believe that adjustments could have been made to meet the needs of the man with children without departing from the general principle of stabilisation. “A vicious cycle must now commence, and it is difficult to say where it will stop,” they continued. “All costs will soar. The effect on manufacturing and building costs of the fortnight’s paid holiday, which has added approximately 6 per cent, to all stages of production costs and not less than 10 per cent, on the finished article, will serve to illustrate the result of one small wage increase, for undoubtedly that is what the ‘ paid holiday ’ amounted to.” The new wage increase, the statement added, must mean reconsideration of the fixed prices paid by the Government for all types of primary produce—wool, meat, dairy produce, grain, fruit, etc. —and farmers would demand that the whole position be reviewed in the light of the new policy. “Farmers do not forget that increased prices for New Zealand produce were paid by the British Government specifically to increase production, but the New Zealand Government refused to pass on the increase because of stabilisation,” the statement concluded. “ This excuse, however, no longer applies.”