P. AND T.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19277, 2 April 1925, Page 5

P. AND T.

DISSATISFIED WITH LOW SALARIES. LIVELY DEBATE OVEB MB COMBS. (Per Press Association.) : WELLINGTON, April 1. The annual meeting of the Welling* ton section of the P. and T. Association was held to-night, Mr. T. Falconer presiding over a large attendance. The annual report stated that men* bers of the service were “bitterly di» satisfied” with the existing salariel which allowed in many cases the barest existence, the rank and file of the cleri cal grade finding itself with a salarj maximum increased by only 19 per cent over pre-war rates to meet an admitted increase in the cost of living of 60 pci cent. The report also commented strongly on “the excessively long hours” worked by the telegraph side of the service. The committee expressed the strong opinion that the largely increased work and revenue merited an increased telegraph staff. The chairman stated that public set* vants should confer together and see if some concerted move could not be made throughout the Dominion to get som< measure of redress so far as salary conr ditions were concerned. The report was adopted without discussion. A letter was received from the general secretary, Mr. H. E. Combs, stating that he was again chosen by the Labour Representation Committee to contest the Wellington North seat, and offering to place his resignation of the secertaryship in the hands of the executive, if desired. A resolution moved congratulating Mr. Combs on being chosen as the Labour candidate for Wellington North, led to a long, and at times lively, debate. Mr. Combs stated in his letter that 112 days accumulated leave were due to him, and a member wanted to know why four years' leave was allowed to accumulate when there was an assistant secretary. Other members urged that if the secretary had time ta act as secretary to outside organisations and take an interest as a side line in a soft goods business, an investigation should be made to see if as assistant secretary were really neeessary.

In reply, it was stated that the activities of the secretary were not carried on in the association’s time. Other members maintained that the political activities of the secretary tended to put the association offside with the general public whose support the association wanted in its efforts to secure better pay and conditions and .- also tended to produce a feeling of antagonism between the Minister and th! secretary. There was a suspicion that the secretary was taking up certais matters to serve political ends. Ta this it was replied that the association stood for full political rights for public scryants and should not deny those rights to its secretary. A member: We do not claim the pay while conducting political campaigns instead of doing our work. A motion to go into committee and exclude the Press was defeated by an overwhelming majority. Notice was given of a remit strongly recommending the conference to rescind the decision to affiliate with the Alliance of Labour. A resolution was carried: “That this section is of opinion that the association should be entirely dissociated either directly or indirectly from any political party and that the service journal should not be used in any manner for the purpose of political propaganda.” The mover declared that the Alliance of Labour was merely a body of political propagandists who wanted to include public servants and all other employees in the country into one big organisation so that its leaders might upset the existing forms of Government and set themselves up as dictators over the rest of the community and that the columns of the Katipo had been filled with the most Communistic matter, and he had been refused space to put the other side. There had been a persistent endeavoul through the Katipo to indoctrinate th< whole service with ideas of class con sciousness, class warfare, and such like The congratulatory resolution to Ms Combs, which had been held over, wai carried about 11 o’clock by a largt majority in a somewhat thinned house. A resolution was also carried calling upon the association to appoint a special committee to investigate the question of office administration, the duties and pay of secretaries, annual leave, etc.