THE BASIC WAGE

Southland Times, Issue 20963, 21 December 1929, Page 7

THE BASIC WAGE

REDUCTION PROPOSED IN N.S.W. £4 2/6 FOR THREE PERSONS. (Rec. 10.20 p.m.) Sydney, December 20. The full bench of the Industrial Commission sitting in Sydney to-day declared the living wage in New South Wales for a man and his wife and one child at £4 2/6 a week and for an adult female employee at £2 4/6. Mr Justice Piddington, the president of the commission, dissented, and in scathing remarks upon the conditions under which the commission was forced to act he likened the commission to a computing machine. The old rate for an adult family consisting of a man and his wife and two children was £4 5/-, so that the new basic wage represents a drop of 2/6 and covers a man, his wife and only one child. The Government intends to revise the child endowment plan whereby employees under State awards shall pay sixpence a week towards a fund to which the Government will add a subsidy. When the Legislative Assembly met today Mr Lang, Leader of the Opposition, demanded that the Government should suspend the basic wage declaration. His motion for suspension of declaration was defeated by 44 votes to 32.