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The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1883. The Unemployed.

That a cry should be raised at certain periods of the year in New Zealand to the effect that there is scarcity of employment seems to be inevitable. for such complaints, however, is the winter, and it is therefore somewhat surprising to find it being made in the present month. At the same time there is evidently no reason to believe that the deputation which waited on Messrs Mitchelson and Rolleston the other day were exaggerating when they depicted the state of a large number of able-bodied men as deplorable, owing to their inability to procure the means of livelihood. It would also be idle to deny that trade in the colony is very depressed, at any rate in the Middle Island, and probably in no place is this condition of things more keenly felt than in the City of the Plains. As we remaiked yesterday, deputations seldom receive satisfactory answers from the Ministers they interview, but in this instance no attempt was made to shirk the question. Mr Mitchelson, indeed, had the courage to utter some words of sterling truth to the workmen, which they will do well to lay to heart. He told them that not a little of the distress now existing was to be accounted for by the improvidence of the men themselvef, who never thought of putting anything by for a rainy day while they were in employment, and when work was scarce in a particular district an objection was shown to removing elsewhere in search of it. Take for example the present agitation. The distress existing is almost entirely local, and even as near as the West Coast men are wanted, while the demand for skilled labor is still more strong in Auckland, just now the most prosperous part of New Zealand. Messrs Montgomery and Holmes, whose business it is to pose as the friends of the working classes, argued that it was the duty of Government to find occupation for the body of unemployed in Christchurch, but we are glad to say that Mr Rolleston firmly refused to countenance any such monstrous proposal. Because Parliament has passed votes for certain works, it is urged that these should be pushed forward at a time when money is scarcer than it has been in the colony for many years. New Zealand is passing through a critical period, and it behoves the Government to exercise the most rigid economy. Yet they are asked at this juncture to launch into reckless extravagance, and inflict more burden on the taxpayers, simply to benefit some three hundred men who have probably only to thank their past improvidence for their present position. But if Mr Rolleston refused to establish such a vicious precedent, he showed that the Ministry were ready to do what they could to alleviate the condition of the unemployed, and he has made an offer to provide them with employment at the rate of four shillings and sixpence a day. This has been met with an indignant refusal, on the grounds that the wages were not large enough. We admit that they are not high, but thirty shillings a week is better than nothing, and if the men refuse to take it as a means to temporarily tide over bad times, it strikes us that they cannot be in such a parlous state as they would have us believe. At any rate, the offer, under existing circumstances, is a perfectly fair one, and by their rejection of it the working men have forfeited all

claim to public sympathy. We know that Trade Unionism in Europe has for its object the equalisation of wages, and that men aie bound not to take less than a stated amount for their labor. Such a principle is legitimate enough so long as a combination can be formed sufficiently strong to enforce it, but it must be remembered that when hard times come the burden of supporting those out of employment falls upon the trade societies and not upon the general public. It was proposed at a mass meeting held in Christchurch yesterday to form a Working Men’s Association, and there can be little objection to this course being taken, albeit the time seems hardly propitious for an enterprise of the kind. This, we presume, would be established upon the same basis as the Trades Unions at Home, and if powerful enough to dictate to employers the rate of wages to be paid for labor we should hear no more of the cry of the unemployed, As to “shaming” the Government into giving workmen more than the state of the exchequer warrants, it is to be hoped that the Minister will not be influenced by silly threats. The question is simply one of demand and supply, and at present, in Christchurch at least, there appears to be more men than there is work for them to do. When a merchant finds that his stock is 100 heavy he has to sell his goods at a sacrifice and trust to better times to recoup him for his loss. By analogy of reasoning, the unemployed should recognise that their labor is at a discount, and should be prepared to dispose of it for what it will fetch.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG18831220.2.8

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1030, 20 December 1883, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
887

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1883. The Unemployed. Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1030, 20 December 1883, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1883. The Unemployed. Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1030, 20 December 1883, Page 2

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