6S MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES

sufficiently representative of their class can take the initiative and
request the board to investigate conditions in a given industry, and
to make recommendations as to minimum wages. (Art. 3.) The
final decision is with the Minister of Labor or other minister designated
 by the Governor General. The minister can not, however,
fix rates contrary to those determined by the majority of the board.
(Arts. 7 and 18.) The proposed determination must be published
in the press, in order to enable any interested party to formulate
objections. (Art. 7.) If such objections are formulated by representative
 parties, the board may be instructed by the minister to make
v new report, as a basis for the final decision of the minister.
(Art. 7.) Exemptions from the minimum wage may be granted for
persons suffering from physical disability, who are capable of doing
only part of the work required of an able-bodied person (art. 10b) or
when the minister feels that for special reasons such exemptions are
in the interest of the employees concerned (art. 10c).
The inspectors of factories and special officers appointed under
the act enforce the provisions of the law. (Art. 11.) Employers are
bound to pay the minimum rates fixed by the board and are fined
up to £100 in case of violation of this rule. Agreements between the
parties contrary to the determinations of the minister are void.
(Art. 8.)
Principle of Wage Fixation

THE wage act 1925, instructs the board (art. 3, subsec. 2) to
take into consideration three major points—conditions in the
trade, burdens the trade can bear, and cost of living in the area.
The law had, however, to take into account a side of South African
conditions which is utterly different from that in all other
countries of the world—the wide gap which exists between
the wages of skilled white workers and those of unskilled black
workers. . The report of a commission instituted to investigate these
problems ¢ gives extraordinary data in that respect. For the miners
at Witwatersrand working underground the average wage per shift
for adult European males is 23s. 8d.; the average wage for native
underground workers at the same place is only 2s. 8d. per shift.
The wages of unskilled “colored” (mulattoes) workers in towns
range from 3s. to 5s. per day. This discrepancy seems to have been
a major consideration for the passing of the act. [Compare the
more limited, yet clearly marked, parallel tendency to use minimum
wage legislation as a protection of white workers against competition
 of low-paid colored workers in Victoria, Australia (see ch.
3), and in British Columbia, Canada (see ch. 7).] Employers obviously
 were and are tempted to replace white workers by semiskilled
blacks because of the immense economy in labor costs. When, however,
 a wage minimum sufficient to attract white workers was established
 for a trade, employers were inclined to employ whites. The
tendency of the act, therefore, seems to be to create two groups of
employment—guaranteed well-paid Smplogment for white workers
and lower-paid employment for black and colored workers. These
4 Union of South Africa. Economic and Wage Commission (1925). Report. Capo
Town, 1928, pp. 257, 263. ' . va