Chinese Carpenters’

Wages

Reduction of 25 Per Cent.

Move by Solomons Administration

From Our Own Correspondent

Tulagi, Dec. 20.

The rumour that Chinese carpen ters in Government employ are to be reduced in wages by 25 per cent, has been well received by those who understand the true position of affairs, and the move shows the keen sense of observation of our authori ties.

ILL-JUDGED competition some few years ago raised wages to such a point that it became as cheap, say, to have a boat built in Sydney, as in the Solomons—a frightful state of affairs in view of the high cost of Australian labour, materials and middlemen, to say nothing of the high freight and import duty of 12½ per cent.

Naturally, the Solomons became the El Dorado of Chinese mechanics or near mechanics, as nine-tenths of them can only be called. They have been paid far above their value for years, and 25 per cent, is not a penny too big a reduction; especially in these days, when most of us have been re duced considerably more.

It is now up to the companies and individuals employing this class of labour to follow the good example set by the Government and help to re duce costs generally.

On being told of this proposal, one Chinaman asked, and not without a measure of reason: “Are the local stores going to reduce their goods by 25 per cent?”

Without going quite so far as that, one feels that, in these cold water days, champagne profits are still asked, and that not enough attention is paid to reducing "overhead" . Worse still, one sees evidence of certain lines being reduced in Australia without a corre sponding reduction here. One sees two men on high wages doing the work that was done some years ago by one on a much lower scale. All these lax ities have to come back to “scratch,” and the firm that gets back first is the firm that will win the appreciation and support of all concerned.