CO129-524-1 Reports of Salaries Commission 31-12-1929 - 27-10-1930 — Page 104

Copy.

106

Memorandum

on the

Report of the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce

on the

Report of the Salaries Commission, 1929.

1.

2.

3.

There is nothing in the Report of the Committee which affects the righteousness of the recommendations of the Commission with regard to the existing salaries of Govern- ment employees both on sterling and on dollar salaries. The objections to any increase are mainly based on the inexpediency of raising salaries under present financial conditions in the Colony.

It is nowhere definitely alleged that the recommendations of the Commission would result in the payment of salaries which were too high having regard to the nature of the work done and the increased cost of living in recent years; comment is mainly confined to the effect that would be produced on business concerns in the Colony.

So short of arguments is the Committee that the suggestion made at A on page 4 of its report is a striking example of special pleading. Fluctuation in the number of dollars received by a Government employee is obviously undesirable if it can be avoided; but it is distorting the statement of the Commission to say that it is an admission that, in order to diminish the extent of fluctuation, sterling salaries should be translated into dollars at a rate

considerably above the actual value of the dollar. To act in this manner would be to create a serious injustice and to call it stability.

So far as the objections of the Committee to raising the wages of labourers are concerned, no account is taken either by the Labour Advisory Board or by the Committee of the

facts