REDUCTION IN WAGES.

Waikato Times, Volume 109, Issue 18347, 5 June 1931, Page 6

REDUCTION IN WAGES.

PREMIER’S OPINION. DECISION A WISE ONE. RESTORING PROSPERITY. "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 Hon. G. W. Forbes. “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 close analysis, arrived at the same conclusion as the Government in regard to the percentage to be deducted. "We must do our utmost to prevent an Increase in unemployment," stated the 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 have 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 the difficulties that confront us."

WEST COAST MINERS. STRIKE ACTION CONSIDERED. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) GREYMOUTH, Thursday. The coal mines on the West Coast were worked again as usual to-day after the holiday. On Tuesday at stop-work meetings the unions considered the question of whether strike action should be taken against the 10 per cent, wage reduction ordered by the Arbitration Court, but so far as is known the result will not entail any stoppage for the time being.