AUSTRALIAN WORKERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3958, 21 January 1930, Page 34

AUSTRALIAN WORKERS.

The following in last week's ecoad Edition.

SUPPORT TO COAL MINERS.

ATTEMPT TO REDUCE WAGES. AUCKLAND, January 13. The high costs of production have been almost solely responsible for the present depression in Australian industry, according to Mr E. L. Sanders, Nationalist member for Willoughby, in in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, who arrived at Auckland by the Aorangi on a short holiday visit. Mr Sanders said the coal strike naturally continued to exert a crippling influence on New South Wales.trade. The situation was extremely difficult, and the prospects of an early settlement were not bright. “The strike was the direct outcome of an attempt to enforce lower wages on the miners,” Mr Sanders said. “ However, the matter really goes further than that. It is practically a test case for the reduction of wages throughout New South Wales. The workers know that if the miners’ wages are reduced there will be a reduction all round, and therefore they are contributing large sums for the relief of the strikers. “ My own opinion is that the working man realises that wages must eventually come down. The cost of production in practically every industry is far too high for them to* be maintained at the present level. However, the working man cannot be given any guarantee that with a reduction in wages there will be an accompanying reduction in the cost of living. This* is practically the root of the trouble. “It is difficult to know exactly to what extent the hight protective tariff has been a contributive factor,” continued Mr Sanders. " I have no doubt that it has increased the cost of some lines, but then again it is an unfortunate fact that some of the local manufacturers make no attempt to cut overhead and reduce the prices of their own goods.” .Mr Sanders, who is accompanied by his wife, will make a short tour of the North Island before his return to Sydney on January 27.