UNKNOWN

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20108, 11 December 1930, Page 17

UNKNOWN

XV \ r > ILViES DIP JjX'YO ALAND HIS' j -unt endurance of difficult oco»i'uiiic situations of this character seoii::; Jmost impossible to a democracy," writes T> '- C^udli 4 ?? <„■ reviewing SOlli:' •f-'.'tiO(' «>t j3p.-'<S*on ill the past liis'c.-. y of L .•min' va. But one thing thai', ought U< greatly toward such a patient K.duraneo is a glance backward along i-ho roc.ti of our progress, with its ups aud downs, ar.<l not a few steep and slippery places. Even a country with so short a history as New Zealand can show a number of periods of economic depression much more severe than anything it is now being called on to face. Not by a smooth, unimpeded advance has the Dominion reached its present enviable position of well being and security, but by grappling strongly with adverse conditions and winning through (says the "New Zealand Herald." Very early in the history of New Zealand economic troubles began to manifest themselves. Away back in 180-1, at the very beginning of the Otago gold rushes, the unemployed there created a serious problem. In that year a petition signed by 1010 unemployed in Dunedin was presented to the Otago Provincial Council demanding in no uncertain terms to be provided with livelihood. Their truculent manifesto demanded that the Council provide money for public works to give employment. American Aid Sought. As the alluvial goldfields began to peter out toward the end of the 'sixties unemployment naturally reappeared. Meetings were held in Christchurch in 1868, and in 1870 it was reported that there were 3000 miners out of work in the Thames goldfields, and that half of them were so desperate that they would work for food alone. The final break of boom conditions in 1879 intensified a desperate situation, which was widespread, but worst in Canterbury, where the boom had been wildest. In May, 1879, meetings in Christchurch disclosed a very angry temper among the unemployed. It found vent partly in resentment against the immigration of Chinese and partly in efforts to stop any further immigration from Britain. Palliative measures, such as the provision of relief depots and soup kitchens, were of little avail, and in June, 18S0, a meeting of unemployed drew up a petition to the President of the United States begging him to render assistance by which they might migrate to America. A few years later the incidence of unemployment had shifted to Dunedin and Auckland. A meeting in Dunedin in 1885 petitioned the Government of Victoria to help transfer the surplus labour of New Zealand to that colony, where conditions were much easier. In 1887 the Christchurch unemployed sent a resolution to the New Zealand Government in the following terms: —"Resolved that since the Government refuses to provide work and private persons have no work to give, the unemployed should petition his Excellency the Governor to memorialise her Most Gracious Majesty to exercise her prerogative during the year of her Jubilee by sending relief to the starving people of New Zealand." ' *-> Leaving the Country. In the latter 'eighties people began to leave the country; thousands sailed away to other lands. "The sinister and depressing spectacle of steamers crowded with emigrants forsaking New Zealand for Australia was witnessed month after month," writes Pember Reeves. "It seemed, and was, unnatural that a fertile and healthy young country, not one quarter peopled, should be unable to. employ an admittedly very scanty population.'' As a matter of. fact New Zealand was then involved in the downward world movement of prices that began in the 'seventies and ended in the middle 'nineties. "In some districts," says Reeves, "three-fourths of the prominent colonists were ruined." Palling prices, national deficits, foreclosure on inflated securities, unemployment, and widespread distress were the features of the time. The Government's policy of economy included an all-i'ound reduction of 10 per cent, in the salaries and

wages it paid. A Difficult Period. The outlook was probably at its worst in 1885 and 1886. Between 1885 and 1891 the excess of departures over arrivals was 20,000. "For those who remained —especially the town-dwellers—-times were hard," writes Mulgan. "Soup kitchens made their appearance. The supply of labour was greater than the demand, wages fell, and the worker had to take the worst of the situation." Although the Sweating Commission found by a majority that sweating as known in London did not exist here, it was difficult to distinguish between certain English conditions and the worst that New Zealand could show. Instances came to light of 83 boys and three girls to 27 men employed in a group o£ saddlers' shops, and of 20 boys to four men in a cabinetmaker's factory. Girls worked long hours for a few shillings a week, or perhaps were employed for a year or so, at no wage at all. and then dismissed to make way for more "learners." Girls in the clothing trade earned Is 3d a day on piecework, and boys in the saddlery trade averaged 7s 6d for a week of 50 hours A baker gave evidence that be had to work 13 or 14 hours a day to earn £1 a week, and when he moved to a slightly easier place he was turned away to make room for a lad at less than half that wage. <IV , People talk lightly of the "hard times" of to-day, but there are those still living who would call it abundant prosperity when compared with conditions through which, they remember passing in New Zealand. • The truth is that those who have had a taste of luxury are inclined to be a little soft when called on to face less easy conditions.