REDUCTION IN WAGES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 133, 8 June 1931, Page 8

REDUCTION IN WAGES

PRIME MINISTER’S VIEW WISE DECISION MADE EFFECT UPON UNEMPLOYMENT “Taken as a whole, the decision of the Arbitration Court to allow wages to be reduced by 10 per cent, is a wise one, and it will go a long way toward restoring prosperity in this country,” declared the Prime Minister, Right Hou. G. W. Forbes, in a recent statement. “It is only by facing the facts and realising that our ideas of values were above the level at which we could carry on, that we can get back to prosperity.” Mr Forbes said that the verdict of the Court followed the lines of the Government’s action in reducing the wages of civil servants. The Court, in a very closo analysis, arrived at the same conclusion as the Government in regard to tho percentage to bo deducted. With a reduction of labour costs it would bo possible for industry to carry on and to provide employment. If there had been no reduction tho speaker believed that unemployment would have increased considerably. Mr Forbes was quite satisfied that the cut would reduce costs, and that therefore the real value of wages would be the same. “We must do our utmost to prevent an increase in unemployment,” stated tho Prime Minister. “That has been in my mind all along and with cheaper production and more men employed we will be able to carry on with a greater degree of success. The fall in the value of farm produce has been so considerable that it was bound to nave had its effect on all other industries. This readjustment by wage reduction is one of the wisest steps, and I am sure that we will now be able to meet the conditions and overcome tho difficulties that confront us.”