THE COST OF LIVING.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160639, 4 May 1920, Page 8

THE COST OF LIVING.

Though the cost of living is not the sole cause of the trouble between tire railway men and the Department, >t has greatly aggravated the situation and has finally brought an accumulation of grievances to a head. A case is being quoted of au engine-driver with 25 years’ service and a very excellent record behind him, who, after paying rent, has only .£3 10s a week on which to maintain a wife and six young children. An engine-driver of this grade is, of course, by no means the worst paid man in the service, but with the necessaries of life costing some 40 per cent, more than they did before the war even the most ithrifty and capable housewife well may wonder how this family of eight manages to feed and clothe and educate and insure itself on ten shillings a day. The responsibilities of the husband and father are as great, at least, as those of the master of a passenger steamer, and yet he receives a labourer’s pay.