Cromwell Argus, AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE CROMWELL: TUESDAY, MAR. 19, 1872.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 123, 19 March 1872, Page 4

Cromwell Argus, AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE CROMWELL: TUESDAY, MAR. 19, 1872.

ICiCiiT hours for labour, eight hours I i stud) r and devotion, eight hours for sit ' aiul meals, we are told, was the manner which King Alfred, of pre-Norman timi divided Lis clay. As no man liveth hiiust'lf, or can avoid influencing the futii as well as the present, it is impossible tell how far the example of the ilhistrio Saxon may have leavened the minds i his descendants, and engendered the beli that the period hj" devoted to public lm ness was the proper daily portion of til that should be allotted tVthe pursuit ! manual labour. (So impressed, howevt 'is this belief on the mind ofltho Kngli workman, that it has passed into a pi verb: " l( a man cannot do a fair da] work in eight hours, he cannot do it ten or twelve." But while this maxim has boon engrav on the minds of the Anglo Saxon race every portion of the globe, povertv ai high pries for labour have often cans i its teachings to be ignored; and te twelve, and fourteen hours have been cc sidered a day's work, or a day and a pi tion of another day's work, as either ] verty compelled in the workman the si mission of the serf, or cupidity tempt J the endurance of the fvee man. In t mother country, the question of wl: should constitute the hours of a fair d;V work has been, between the employers a; the employed, a cause for battle, —wlii has been both bitter and long. In a former issue, we stated wo shon recur to the ten-hour system, which 1) been inaugurated in our quartz-reefs i Bendigo and the Carrick Range. Witho reviewing at present the origin of thisi novation, we shall content ourselves \vi expressing our disapproval of its initiati in our midst, some of our reasons for doing, and. if still persisted in. at a futu date pointing out what means can ai should lie adopted by the mining popul J lation for its speedy cessation. To tl | best of our belief, —the result of the e quiries we have instituted.—from Hoc hampton to Glenelg, from the Colvil Peninsula to Orepuki, wherever mini'. for gold is au established or a temporal i industry, eight hours is the allotted tic for wages-men to work. (Irorowell in Nt Zealand, and Pleasant Creek in Victor! ' : forms the only exceptions. Neitherfroratl (peculiarities of the district, the characfc of the claims where this excess of time demanded, the capabilities of the men ft ployed, can we see any reason why tl portion of the Province should bear tl I ignominy of being the first to bres through this uniform Colonial rule, —wl our workmen should initiate a. system ■ ' prejudicial jn themselves and their cl» dim, or ;,,';."■;.-,pi to re-rivet the fettc

Jir forefathers and co-workers have veil .so earnestly and persistently to k 'Pq work ten hours a day underund in the winter portion of the year, lever to see the sun save once a week, cbe time of going to work must be before Mylitdit, and the time of leaving off after But this is not the only evil result. men have to cook their own food, ' ' fetch their stores, mend and wash their own clothes, carry their water and keep! M-their huts in order, and perform the fiftytv arid-one operations incidental to the do- ■ "Utesticitv of life. As the consequence of ei ' ; this extra demand on their time, all these . domestic details have to be performed on [ '''"'the one day of rest law and custom pro- j '""'vicles. It enforces the man to cook, wash, | -and mend on the Sunday, whether he may -11 agreeable or not. It seem's odd that a| nforal, Scotch-Sabbath-keeping Province | I -mid otl'cr such inducements for Sabbath- j jakin". If i n countries where an older; ilisatioli prevails, and men as a rule /e wives, mothers, and sisters to perform j iS3 household cares for them that here ;olve on the miners themselves, the ht-hour system is approved and establed, it would be superfluous to point! ; how much, more necessary it is on our d-tields that it should be kept intact. Last month at Sandhurst an attempt! s made to reduce the miners' verges' ee shillings a week, or in lieu thereof; ie hours' work for a day's labour was aired, both demands were resisted. iges, of course, must bo guided by the >ply of materiel that can be obtained; 1 least, this is the prevailing rule ; but i imposition of extra hours to work '•stands altogether in another category. There is no surer plan of rearing white' I Athens in our midst, or obtaining renits for what- Curlyle calls the ''devil's' giment," than to make a man work ten inrs a day through the week, and cook s food, and wash and mend his clothes, ; o livelong Sunday through. If we unrstand anything about the matter at all, was to escape such thraldom that many the inhabitants of these Colonies left ■'•ti'."'i' native land. 'lll We object to the introduction of the 'i'li l;.a;r system, as an infraction of the i'j limits :.f labour, ns a reversion to a hori--i;i''e men h-ive escaucd irom, as '. 3p is»d to the spirit and gonins of the age, i : as being socially, politically, and religiously ! -lid. —believing that no surra' or more fatal weapon against the independence, [ Ivell-bfung, and intelligence of the working iuan was ever forged than protracted and Excessive hours of labour.

po one who Ims read the European news ' sironght by the last San Francisco maih ; |>ut will deeply regret the threatening [ fppect of the relations existing betwixt Bihighmd and America. But we cannot,'' iielp feeling indignant at the audacity of i : the American Congress and a certain sec- : tion of the newspaper press iti urging •claims against the British Government l which tho latter has clearly no reason to pec (gnise. When England went 4o far as, ! *to make the concession of submitting to, "jirijitratioii the claims of the American!' i P rovernment for damages done by the Con- i' 'federate privateer '' Alabama," she made a •concession beyond what America had any ' •right to I'xpect. That Britain would liave '"met any award the arbitrators might have ' divide for direct loss to commerce caused by ' , the acts of the "Alabama," even Ameri-i' pins cannot doubt; but wh.cn such un righteous claims as those set up l>v President Grant—claims not only for the loss, mf vessels and cargoes, but for expense?:' incurred in the pursuit of the il Alabama." < .•and other Confederate vessels of war, and amounting in the aggregate to an enormous|, sum of money.—when such claims as these!; are set up, England will lie perfectly justified in repudiating the obligations entered I. into with the international arbitrators who I, were appointed to settle the dispute. The " United States may have some show of reason for suspecting England's connivance! Sat the " Alabama's " movements and object when leaving Liverpool; but, for all that, \ we think it must be clear to unbiassed! minds that the suspicion is an unjust one. ft is well known that when the " Alabama" left Liverpool she had not a single warlike implement of any kind on board,—and if I we remember rightly, she left ostensibly on a trial trip, not even having boon chris-l tenod. but sailing from the Mersey as the! " 2!J0," and being christened and her arma- ' i ment shipped at a port under the rule of! | another nation. We do not remember how : I matters of detail in connection with the I Arbitration Commission were settled ; but! if the calling of witnesses in the respective interests of the two nations was provided for, we should think the evidence that

famous privateer—would bo quite sufficient to establish England's utter absence of complicity in the matter. A strange feature in connection with the "Alabama" question which the European news contains, is a portion of the Queen's Speech on the occasion of opening Parliament, an early copy of which had been seen by a writer for the Pall Mall Gazette, and in which Her MAJESTY says, in referring to the "Alabama" claims:—"l have given consent to the reference of the ' Alabama' claims to an International Tribunal-j the highest authority to which their decision could have been entrusted. Through a pardonable oversight on the part of the negociators, the claim was not explicitly limited to direct losses, and therefore the President of the United Slates has preferred a' considerable number of indirect claims, to many of which my Government has demurred. I hope the amount to be ultimately defrayed will not exceed the ; French payment to Germany." When it * is considered that the amount claimed for ; actual losses incurred by the United States lis only some £4,000,000, and that the | amount of indemnity which it was arranged should be paid by France to Germany is £200,000,000, this portion of the Queen's i Speech—if correctly given by the Pall 1 Mall Gazette —seems inexplicable. It is almost an admission that England is prepared to acknowledge and meet the whole of the American claims; and, in the face of the opposite opinions expressed by influential members of Parliament and by a powerful section of the London press, it has an air of mystery about it which we cannot fathom. To our mind it seems that I America—or rather the boastful minority 1 of that great nation who rank themselves ; as England's enemies- -is bent on picking a quarrel with the British Government. The fact of Cvnada remaining as one of England's possessions has long been a fruit--1 ful source of jealous feeling in the breast | of the " almighty" Jonathan : and—look- ; ing beyond the " Alabama " claims—here is discernible the real motive that prompts Yankee minds to push matters to a crisis between the two nations. The New York Herald —celebrated for its boastful and | bombastic style of writing on this and suchlike subjects—is of course in the foreground among the list of loud-tongued iagitators,—demanding, if the damages are not peacefully paid, that they shall be " collected at the point of the bayonet." 'Perhaps another feature than the collection of this money from Britain might present itself if wen" were declared between the two countries. America, with all her ridiculous bombast, might possibly come oil" second best in the struggle, and furnish I another example of how national arrogance and self-conceit are occasionally brought low. Certainly, war, with all its ghastly accompaniments and horrors, should be avoided if possible ; but even the meekest and most peaceable of men would not, wo imagine, like to see the name of Britain ! become a bye-word among the nations of 'the earth, as it assuredly would do if she 'calmly submitted to such extortionate de- ! mands as those made by America. As it lis, remarks as to the falling oil' in British pluck and valour, and the contempt with which Britain is now regarded by other nations, are too common, —for we feel confident there is no cause for them. If, however, England lamely submit to this latest display of American impudence, then we may say good-bye to her national prestige.