18 DECEMBER 1920, Page 10

THE INDEX FIGURE.

(To THE EDITOR Of THE "SPEOUTOR21 Sia,—The following facts are not without interest as bearing on the above. At the Burton Court branch of the Ministry of Pensions, and presumably elsewhere, a rise of salaries takes place this week throughout the whole of the establishment. -What this means may be instanced from the case of my informant, an entirely unskilled workwoman, unable either to typewrite or shorthand, and in fact only fit for what she does, namely, docket and file. Her and her comrades' wages, where they have not been- supplanted by men at £3 108. a week, have been raised from £2 15s. to £3, and not only this, but it is ante- dated to July 1 last, eo she will receive an unsolicited Christmas

box of R6 for twenty-four weeks at 5e. This comes on a similar rise of the same nature in May last, which, again, was ante- dated to January. And the Government is economizing !—I am,