READJUSTMENT OF WAGES

Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1930, Page 3

READJUSTMENT OF WAGES

THE NEED IN AUSTRALIA. (Special 1 Correspondent.) ■ Wellington, May 3. Some London critics have expressed favourable opinions of the steps taken by the. Commonwealth Government, to deal with -the difficult financial position in which Australia now finds itself, but it ia evident that those who accept the : revisions which have been made in the tariff aei a drastic necessity do not - realise the significance of the super duties and Import prohibition. The Investora’, Chronicle declares that the present difficulties in Australia must be regarded as primarily the outcome of Labour “economics.” High wages, ever increasing tariffs and ft high standard of living have necessitated continuous borrowing, not always for. productive purposes. During the last 10 years, says the Chronicle’, the Commonwealth has paid to stockholders and to the British Government about £67,600,090, and in the same period her overseas . borrowings have amounted to £125,000,000. The Australian States have paid, interest roughly amounting to £134,000,000 in the 10 years, and have borrowed £129,000,000 to enable them to do so. The remedy for the existing state of affairs, adds the Chronicle, is hardly to be looked for from a Labour Government. Hoisting the tariff may reduce imports. but it will certainly not increase exports; rather the reverse, since the difference between internal and world prices at which wool and grain must be sold will become still wider. Apparently a reduction of costs or of wages is not to be entertained. The true remedy, the Chronicle declares, is indicated in ,the report of the Auditor-General that Government expenditure should be reduced to bring annual costs within revenue. With, respect to readjustment of wages, Industry and-Trade, the, official organ of tho Victorian Employers’ Federation, states that what is now a period of depression and decline will short-

ly become a catastrophe if the. Labour Governments, both State and Federal, continue to pursue their reckless course. It adds that one expedient after another is being adopted to avoid the inevitable readjustment of normal wages to the new level of national income and to industrial efficiency and production. Costs of production and distribution come down, and that means, inter alia, wages—not real wages, but normal wages, , '