(To TEE EDITOR OF THE SPEC" AT011.”1 Sns,—In your article
of the 9th inst. on Civil Service salaries you refer to the Index Figure, which, it is understood, has increased since 1914 by over 160 per cent. It thus seems obvious that unless wages have correspondingly risen the worker is worse off. But this is not the case. I live in Lancashire in an agricultural village within a few miles of Liverpool. In 1914 wages of unskilled men were 22s., now they aro 48s., an increase of under 130 per cent. It is, however, evident that the labouring class is better off than it was. Wearing apparel is much smarter, there are bicycles in every cottage, the weekly half- holiday gives occasion for a visit to a football match or the pictures, and on a whole holiday a char-a-bane takes a party to Blackpool at El a head. Domestic servants are unobtainable. and I have joist heard that no woman can be found to clean the school, although the payment offered is at the rate of Is. an hour for eight hours a week. I do not find fault with the higher standard of living, but it cannot be reconciled with an official Index Figure an calculated as to show that the working classes have less to spend than before the war.—I am, Sir, ifse.,
AN ENPLOTER.
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