CHAP. 8.—WAGE REGULATION IN SOUTH AFRICA 69

facts have to be kept in mind to understand the following provision
{art. 3, subsec. 3) of the act:
When in the course of any investigation under this section the board, having
regard to any consideration mentioned in subsection (2), finds that it can not
recommend in respect of the employees in any trade or section thereof a
Wage or rate upon which such employees may be able to support themselves
I accordance with civilized habits of life, it shall make no recommendation
In regard to such wages or rates but shall report to the minister on the conditions
 in such trade and the reasons for its decision. On consideration of such
report the minister may direct the board to make such recommendation as it
may deem fit.
The principle of wage fixation for those trades and skilled empPloyments
 which can support high wages is therefore mainly “a
living wage * in accordance with civilized standards of life. Trades
and occupations unsuited to be paid such a wage are to be left to
black and colored workers, and no living wage calculated by civilized
standards is to be fixed.
But even for these trades minimum wages can be fixed if the minister
 deems fit. He is given a free hand in that respect. (Art. 3,
subsec. 3.) Far-seeing circles in South Africa are well aware of the
danger to the general welfare which may result from the coexistence
of widely different standards of labor and from the low purchasing
bower of the majority of the workers. They desire that the wage
act reduce the gap between wages for skilled white and unskilled
black and colored workers.’ They also desire it in order to prevent
white men who are not skilled enough to earn the high wages of
skilled white workers from falling to the bottom. They want to
establish for that purpose intermediary grades. That aim is facilitated
 by the fact that the act only indirectly and not specifically distinguishes
 between the wages for white and black workers.” The
Wage board in its first decision, in connection with an application as
to unskilled laborers in the Orange Free State, refused expressly to
consider any distinctions of color or race. It stated that its duty
under the act was to assess the value of the work and to recommend
2 wage in accordance with that value.* In the same spirit the
Minister of Posts and Telegraphs defended on May 17 in the South
African Parliament the payment of 8s. to unskilled laborers for an
S8-hour day. He explained it to be his policy that payment be made
for work and not for color.?
Application of the Act

THE wage act 1925 went into effect on February 12, 1926, and a
wage board of three members was appointed on that date.?
The opposition to the act centered mainly on the feature of legal
Compulsion, and the wage board, to meet that objection, emphasized
from the beginning its preference for voluntary ‘effort—that is, for
free agreements under the conciliation act—so far. as feasible. F. A.

EE ———r—ee—
® International Labor Office. International Labor Review, Geneva, March, 1926, pp.
336-335: “The new wage act in South Africa.” i
° Union of South Africa. Department of Labor. Social and Industrial Review. Pretoria,
 December, 1927, p. 518: « I’rinciples of industrial legislation,” by A. T. Roberts.
; (International Labor Office. Industrial and Labor Information, Geneva, July 11, 1927,
® Union of South Africa, Department of Labor. Social and Industrial Review, Pretoria,
November, 1957, D. 399.