The Library World Volume 23 Issue 10

Although economic conditions in the country were never in a more fluid condition, there are already signs that local authorities desire to stabilize the salaries of their staffs. The argument used is that there has been a definite approach to normal conditions, and that Whitley and other bonuses should be abolished or replaced by new permanent scales of salary. It is one facet of the general movement all over the country, and indeed over Europe, to reduce wages in order to bring about a real fall in the cost of living. The index figures on which bonus has been calculated have made violent downward jumps of late, and we understand that where salaries fluctuate in accordance with bonus, such salaries as £350 or thereabouts will be reduced by about £50 in September, and other salaries proportionately. The days of generosity to public officials are over for the present in England, as many municipal librarians are discovering.