MARRIED MEN’S WAGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 722, 23 July 1929, Page 2

MARRIED MEN’S WAGE

£6 A WEEK URGED AS 1 MINIMUM MR. J. ROBERTS’S vuaw -————-¢ (From Our Resident Reporter.) } \VELLINGTON, Monday. 1 A Wage of £6 a week is required for the average married worker. ac—. cording to Mr. J. Roberts. general secretary of the Alliance of Labour. ‘ Cost of living figures were dealt with ‘ by Mr. Roberts when stating the case in the Arbitrlion Court for the Fed— . oration of \Vaterside \Vorkers, who asked for a new Dominion award involving increases in wages. In 1914, he said, the Labour Department in its annual report published a diagram allocating the expenditure of the workers' \vages into the different groups, allo‘wing for rent 20.31 per cent. “With the basic xvage at £4 0:: 8d the allowance for rent was 16s 1 1-4 d a week. “Everyone knows that it is impossible for any worker in any of the ports in New Zealand to obtain a. house for that rental.” continued Mr. Roberts. “V‘Ve have obtained returns this year which indicate that for a four or five-roomed house in any of the main centres throughout New Zealand at; least £1 Ts 6d to £1 15: is paid. However, in the schedule of costs we allow only £1 55 a week for house rent. “\Ve arrived at the followinngeekly expenditure:—Rent. £1 ssz‘ food, £1 175 11:41; clothing, £1 ls 7d; miscellaneous, £1 1s 9d; light and fuel, 75 Bd. Total. £5 13s llgd. It would be an easy matter. and indeed very justifiable. to add to the foregoing considerably." remarked Mr. Roberts. After mentioning certain items not allowed for, he said it would be found that the wage necessary to maintain a working class family in a reasonable standard of living was £5 193 115 d.