REDUCTION IN WAGES.

Waipa Post, Volume XXI, Issue 1301, 7 October 1922, Page 4

REDUCTION IN WAGES.

INDICATED BY ARBITRATION COURT. THREE SHILLINGS PER WEEK. (By Telegraph. Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Friday. In the Arbitration Court to-day Mr Justice Prazer gave a pronouncement of the Court in re the cost of living and its relation to wages. He said: " Measured in wages, the cost of living has fallen during the past half year to the extent that would reduce the adult male wage by three shillings per week. If the principle adopted in former wage revisions is followed, corresponding reductions for adult females and juniors are one shilling and sixpence ' v and one shilling per week respectively. This pronouncement is not a judgment or an order of the Court, but simply a statement of the movement of the cost of living as represented in wages." A sitting of the Court will be held in November to hear 'representatives of employers and workers in regard to other considerations which should weigh with the Court in determining whether wages are to be reduced, and, if so, by what amount.

In making an appeal to the Court yesterday in connection with the revision of the basic wage, Mr W. A. Grenfell, employers' representative, said that in April, 1920, when the whole of New Zealand was flushed with the greatest period of prosperity brought about by the high prices of primary products and the expenditure of war moneys, the Court saw fit to materially increase the rate of wages. The position to-day was quite a contrast, for there was no shortage of luLour (a surplus, rather), and the employers were now anxious to secure a reduction of wages.