LAW CLERKS' WAGES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26748, 17 April 1948, Page 9

LAW CLERKS' WAGES

Sir, —I congratulate “ Baffled ” on his outspokenness. This subject wants airing badly, and I hope that through him we may receive some recognition for our services. I am a young man of 24, and receive the sum of £4 10s per week as a clerk. I do all court work and survey land and titles, etc., which saves no end of time to the heads, and for which they receive handsome fees from their clients. I woud get married 10-morrow if I could afford it, but can you tell me how on earth I could manage to support myself and wife on £4 10s per week? What mostly concerns me, however, is the high salaries paid to my contemporaries in Christchurch and Wellington. The cost of living is perhaps higher in those provinces than in Otago, but I doubt it. A person should be paid the same salary irrespective of where he or she resides.

The public believe that the Law Society get more holidays than the general public. Those were the days! We receive not quite 21 days at Christmas, and at Easter we had a day more. We used to get the whole of the following week after Easter, but this was curtailed when we received our silght rise some months ago. I appeal to the employers themselves to wake up and give us a fair deal. - They did not even mention the late 10s a week rise which we are entitled to at least in all fairness.—l am .etc.. Disgusted.

Sir.—May I state how welcome was the letter by " Baffled.” I must congratulate him or her on their courage in bringing this matter to the notice of the general public. I endorse every one of his allegations made, and can also state that each item is correctly stated. It is shocking the way things have been allowed to drift along, and it is certainly high time that a standard scale of wages was drawn up for the law unionists throughout New Zealand. It is not consistent that there should be a different salary for the law clerks and typistes in Dunedin than in the other three main centres. , You may say why do we stay in these positions when we can better ourselves? As far as I am concerned I am used to the work, and legal work is a class ot work all on its own. so that a person working in a legal office does not find himself or herself capable of doing invoice work, etc., to the same standard of success as a person who has done nothing else for many years. Legal work is mostly concerning land and the courts, and this is of no use whatsoever in an outside office. I say, lastly, I think it is time the lawyers woke up to their responsibilities concerning their own stalls, and that they should put this matter in order before concerning themselves with outside matters. I am, ctc.^ [These letters have been much abridged. We cannot grant space to the extent demanded for discussion of matters which concern a single trade union and ’ which should be submitted thereto.—Ed. O.D.T.J