ON BASIC WAGE.

Shannon News, 28 September 1926, Page 1

ON BASIC WAGE.

HOW FAMILIES LIVE. WIVES AT INQUIRY. How do families live on the basic wage? The first real evidence of that phase of the Cost ,of hiving Inquiry came before the Commission at Sydney. • The witness, a woman with a baby in" arms, the youngest of five, said that her husband), formerly an engineer, but now working in a store, earned £4 4s a week. They paid £1 12s Gd a v, eek rent for a house of tln;ee rooms and a kitchen. Groceries cost them about £1 2s Gd a week, and meat as. It was not enough, but the best they could do. A joint of meat obtained on a Saturday had to last until the tollowing Wednesday. They used no fresh milk—only condensed —and had no fruit. The family was fairly Teal thy in the circumstances. The witness added that neither herself the children were able to get dental attention; they had to wait. She received no assistance either from relatives or from any charity. In fact, when her last baby was born, aficT her husband’s departure for work in the morning, she had to remain in bed for the remainder of the day without food until he returned at night. The home was supplied only with necessaries in Cue shape of furniture. She did all her own housework and made her own and the children's clothes. “Any amusements?” inquired the chairman. “No.” replied the witness; “only in the backya'rd." Witness said they spent 3s Gd weekly in vegetables, 4s 7Ad for bread, 10s 6d a quarter for electric light, 30s a quarter for gas, 3s a week for wood and coal, and 4s weekly for insuranc “Which are you most short of?”' asked they chairman, “food or cloth-, ing?” , ' Witness: “Well,' both. At times it is hard to make things meet, and we got behind.” “Not Bare Existence.” Another woman witness, whose family was now grown up, considered it was essential that a family should have fresh milk. The proper standard ot living should be one of reasonable comfort, and not bare existence. She undertook to submit to the Commission an estimate of amounts which, according to her experience, a family of live'—man, wife, and three children—should expend weekly in food. “Short of Many Tilings.” The wife of another storeman stated that her husband, whose actual wage she did not know, allowed her £4 10s a week. They liad four children, the eldest a boy of 17, who gave her £1 a week out of his earnings. They were able to get along fairly well, but went short of a lot of things. Witness detailed what she considered the average weekly cost to the household for food. They paid a rental oi £1 a week for a cottage.of four looms. Her husband smoked, but did ,uot drink much, and she could not say what that item cost him. He had union dues to pay, and she paid 2s a week for lodge benefits. She made her own and the children's clothing, the material for which was obtained mostly on the cash order system. Altogether she found it difficult to get along eomfortably on the £5 10s a week. A barman’s wife, with a 'family of seven children, and her husband earning only £4 9s a w;eek, said that they occupied a flat of two rooms and a kitchen. It was not a healthy existbut it was handy to her husband’s work. The rent was 21s 6d a iveek. She echoed the evidence of the previous witnesses that the family had to go sho’rt of many things which they could not afford on the income especially in the matter of clothing xer husband’s only vice was smoking; he did not drink intoxicants. Fun her evidence is to be taken.