FAIR WAGES QUESTION

Otago Witness, Issue 2860, 6 January 1909, Page 19

FAIR WAGES QUESTION

LONDON, December 29. The Tepcrt of the Departmental Committee appointed in August, 1907, to consider the ■working of the fair wages resolution adopted by the House of Commons on February 13, 1891, as embodied in tlie Government's contiacts, recommends that the present working clau?e obliging the contractor to pay the rates of wages for competent workmen current in the district wliere the work is conducted be I retained. The committee thinks that piecework earnings should exceed the standard time wages on ' simalar work, and declines to recommend that Government contracts be restricted to those houses paying fair wages. It adds that great care ought to be taken to place only good employers or good contractors on the list. The committee suggests the formation of a representative departmental committee to ensure co-operation among the contracting departments. The' committee disagrees on the question to substitute trade union rates for the current rate, and suggests that the cuTrent rate of wages in unorganised trades miight be arrived at either by the Government fixing the rate or a general minimum rate being fixed, "or by- the* establishment of Wages' Boards, or by the | contractor .supplying a schedule of wages and the hours of labour to be observed.