COST OF LIVING

Southland Times, Issue 19223, 19 April 1924, Page 6

COST OF LIVING

COMPARISONS WITH AUSTRATJA MORE PLEASURE AND LEISURE FOR WORKERS. The standard of living and the spending power of money in Australia, declares Mr J. Roberts, secretary of the Alliance of Labour, and of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Federation, who h:m just returned from a visit to the Common* wealth, is much higher than it is in New Zealand. The cost of living, he stated to a Wellington reporter, was not as higl as in the Dominion. Food prices wen about the same, but such items as clothing and rents were much cheaper. This remark applied particularly to Brisbane, where the cost of housing was lower than in any other State in Australia. This was due to the intense housing policy being carried on by the Queensland Government. One of the most noticeable features of life in Australia was that the workers could aiford more pleasure and enjoy more leisure than could the workers in New Zealland. This was principally due to the fact that the minimum award rates laid down by the Court of Arbitration in Australia were not regarded as the maximum to the same extent as in New Zealand. The minimum rate for waterside workers in Sydney and Melbourne was 2/10} per hour up till recently, when a reduction of Id per hour had been effected as a result of a fall tn the cost of living. In addition the watersiders received rates for special cargoes, such as coal, etc., which were higher than the minimum prescribed for general cargo. In Brisbane the rate for handling general cargo was 2/11 per hour, and this was not subject to increase or reduction, according to fluctuations in the cost of living. The rate for coal workers in Brisbane was 3/1} per hour, and special cargoes were paid for at from 2d to 6d per hour more than the minimum rate.

Wharf appliances and methods of handling cargo at all the Australian ports, Mr Roberts observed, were much less efficient than in. New Zealand. Cargoes were handled chiefly by ship’s gear, and wharf accommodation was very congested. Cargoes were handled much more expeditiously in the Dominion. There was practically no unemployment in Australia at the present time—at any rate, he saw very little evidence of it. There was none in Brisbane, and the pame applied to Melbourne and Newcastle, and the smaller ports. There was, however, a fair amount of unemployment in Sydney, but not so much as at this time last year.