"TERRIBLY IMPRESSED."

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160708, 22 July 1920, Page 7

"TERRIBLY IMPRESSED."

PUBLIC SERVICE BASIC WAGE. A JUSTICE’S CALCULATIONS. MELBOURNE. July 12. In the course of tbe hearing of the claims of the Public Service Association in the Arbitration Court, Mr Justice Starke declared that he was “terribly impressed with the magnitude of the claims,” and did not feel that he ought to impose such a burden on the community. The association claims a basic wage of JEI9I a year, with increases for skilled men in the various grades. Mr Justice Starke said that “in the way we are going on we will ruin the Commonwealth. I quite admit that your base man, as you choose to call him, will have to get in some form or other what the Court says is a wage sufficient to maintain him in reasonable comfort. But beyond that, you say that every officer in the service must get increases in exactly tbe proportion that existed before the base man’s wage was raised.’’ Mr Justice Starke quoted figures to show that a min of 21, who would receive A* 191, would, on reaching 27 years of age, get £2>t. That would mean mere than half a million of money in one swoop.