JAPANESE WAGE INCREASES

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23387, 19 December 1945, Page 5

JAPANESE WAGE INCREASES

Counter To Inflation (Rec. 9.15 pm.) TOKIO. Dec. 18. The Japanese Welfare and Finance Ministries worked out a plan providing for wage increases for workers ranging from 30 per cent, to 60 per cent. The maximum increase is 100 yen a month for the individual and 20 yen a month for each dependant. The increases are called temporary commodity allowances, but they cannot meet Japan’s increases in the cost of living. They are merely a palliative pending a stronger attack on the causes of inflation. The Japanese Cabinet decided to dissolve the Diet to-morrow, and call a general election about January 24. Meanwhile the Privy Council approved of the election law which is immediately effective. It extends a vote to 22,000.000 women and 3.000.000 young men. General MacArthur has ordered the dismissal of Judge Takeo Ishiwara for incompetence in sentencing an offender against Allied directives. It was stated that Ishiwara imposed an unusually light sentence of 1333 cents on a former Japanese captain for carrying arms for distribution to his disbanded command. The case was referred to the Japanese police with a warning that the Allies considered the offence very grave.