CIVIL SERVANTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19454, 13 October 1937, Page 12

CIVIL SERVANTS

PRESENT SALARY SCALE AFFECTED BY TAXATION (Pe* Press Association.) WELLINGTON, last night. ■ Addressing the delegates attending Public Service Association's conference, the president, Mr. T. Pound, thanked the Government for what it had already done for the Public Service. It was true, he said, the Government had restored salary cuts, but it seemed that was only half the truth, because although nominally salaries were the same now as before the depression, the civil servants were not receiving the same money as formerly. There was deducted 8d in the £ employment tax and an increase in income tax had hit civil servants probably as hard as, or harder, than any other class of the community. It affected the middle-salaried class, in which category the civil servants fell. The third, and not the least important factor, was the increase in the cost of living. It was true that the cost of living had not risen to that point over the pre-war standard that it did in 1919, but it looked as if it would rise to that point. "I am not mentioning these" matters by way of complaint, but they are cold, hard facts and as such make us hopeful that as far as reclassification is concerned, we may get, if not the 1919 scale, at least something equal to it," added Mr. Pound. The Attorney-General, the Hon. H. G. R. Mason, said the Government desired the association to be strong and representative. It would give most earnest and careful consideration to the conference's representations and observations.