5 JUNE 1926, Page 1

Mr. Varley proposes that work should be resumed at once

on a national minimum percentage of 25 per cent. on the 1914 rate instead of the present 33k per cent. No reductiOn would be made in subsistence wages which are at or below 45s. The new wage rate, he suggests, should be continued until the end of this year to allow time, for reorganizatioh and for its benefits to be noted. The Government should reimburse employers only for actual losses. It will be seen that Mr. Varley suggests a material reduction Of Si per cent. as compared with the reduction proposed by Mr. Baldwin of 10 per cent., and that whereas'Mr. Baldwin would have made the new rate applicable only for a few weeks, Mr. Varley would make it applicable till the end of the year.