THE FREEZING INDUSTRY.

Wairarapa Age, 5 March 1927, Page 4

THE FREEZING INDUSTRY.

POSITION OF COMPANIES. COURT ON OVER-CAPITALISATION Dealing with the request by the freezing companies, for a ten per cent, reduction in wage rates, a his Honour Mr. Justice Frazer, in the course of the award of the Court made yesterday, siys:—

“It is undeniably time that a number of freezing companies are not making any profits, ot are making a very low rate of profit, but it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that this is due in the majority of cases to over-capital-isation during the war period. Works were erected that have proved to be unnecessary and. unprofitable, some of which have now been closed. The volume of output is little, if any, larger than in .1914, and the number of freezing works has greatly increased. This means a reduction in output for some works, as the output of a district is shared by a larger number of works than formerly, and the length of the seasom and the earnings of the men are correspondingly reduced, and the work made still more casual. Where an industry is in difficulties owing to overcapitalisation, an industrial Court should not reduce the wages standard of the workers for that reason, unless, of course, that standard is unduly high in relation to the general standard of wages, but it should leave the adjustment of the difficulties to the operation of economic forces. In any event, the percentage of wages increase that 1 have thought it proper to award cannot appreciab.y affect the position of the freezing companies, while to withhold it would be equivalent to placing the workers on a relatively lower standard than other workers of a similar grade. I have found it necessary to refer to the over-capitalisation of the freezing industry, as the matter was stressed before the Court, but I have done so in no critical spirit. I accept it as an indisputable fact, without casting any reflection on the foresight or business acumen of those responsible for it, or suggesting that there were not reasons that at the time appeared to them sufficiently weighty to justify them in taking the course they followed.”