The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1870.

Dunstan Times, Issue 437, 2 September 1870, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1870.

Beneath the Rule of Mon entirely just the pen is mightier than the sword

The newly arrived immigrants appear to bo a great source a difficulty to the Provincial authorities in Dunedin, and what with deputations to his Honor the Deputy-Superintendent, and letters complaining of want of employment in the public press, a stranger would almost bo lead to believe that the country was over populated and we were rapidly verging "that amiable position ascribed to “Kilkenny Cats,” and like that branch of the feline race, will be driven to the strait of eating one another up. The competition for bread among the working classes of this province is not, however, so keen as members of ’deputations of dissatisfied immigrants would lead us to believe, and we quite agree wrh his Honor the DeputySuperintendent, that notwithstanding the temporary dullness which in reality always accompanies the winter season, there is plenty of employment at good wages could employers of labor and those seeking employment be only brought together. The unemployed and what to do with them is a difficulty which has presented itself even fr'm the early days of the Australian Colonies. During the very height of the Victorian Goldfields, when the streets of Melbourne wore, figuratively speaking, “ paved with gold,” there were meetings of the unemployed. At that time no one could go wrong for work, and the dexterous use of a tin dish ou the diggings would return any industrious man 20s. per day. In South Australia and New South Wales, meetings of the unemployed were equally as common. It seems to be an institution begotten ot “new chums,” and do what we may, even should trees grow bread and butter and rivers run milk and the exercise of the least possible amount of bodily exertion be sufficient to earn a subsistence, there would still Vie the unemployed, and we may rest assured that however prosperous the country may be, this chronic evil will always be cropping up. It is a Colo nial evil, and must be endured. To attempt to cure it or alleviate it by providing work as an act of charity only makes matters worse. Like the poor, the unemployed will always be with us. If the Provincial Government are at famt, it is only that they have not provided a ready means of communication between those seeking work to do and those desirous of having work done. This, if there is any solution of the difficulty, is the only true one, and we might take example by California, and establish a Labor Exchange. Labor, like any other commodity, can be bought and sold, and it only seems reasonable that buyers and sellers of this, as with other articles, should know exactly where to find what they want. In justice to newly arrived immigrants the Government should be able to afford them information of the whereabouts their particular services may be required, and this could readily he accomplished by a proper organisa tion between the town and country districts. A Labor Exchange in Dunedin, with branches or agencies in the principal country towns, especially now that telegraphic communication is so easily available. The state of the labor market in every little centre of population could be ascertained almost hourly if desirable, and we are certain that could country residents feel assured that servants might be ..obtained by a simple and inexpensive process, there need be no unemployed in Dunedin, It is the difficulty ot obtaining servants, and the continued annoyance employers have been subject to that makes lubojr scarce, many em *

ployers having determined to do all thoir work themselves and so dispense with hired help altogether rather than bo troubled with servants. High w ages-ba-Vff, of ooiirse, deal to do with the present dearth of employment—that is, if such a thing really exists—but we think the general inefficiency of servants and the inadequate return for wages paidhave considerably more to do with the matter, and until such times as there exists a reciprocity of feeling, and something approaching to a community of interests between employer and employee, the number of the employed must be naturally ci ■cumscribed. To mitigate the evil a great deal can be done by the Pro vincial Government, which, with the co-operation of the people, would accomplish ranch, and tire —green-eyed monster ot our social happiness somewhat placed under command—or, at least, rendered harmless. a he new Bankruptcy Act Amendment Bill which has just passed through both houses of the legislature will+end very much towards purging commerce of a number of its most unworthy members, debtors could so easily rid themselves of their liabilities under the old Act, that to get into debt and get whitewashed were synonimous. What a pity that such enterprising .'men as Rennie and MO.enuan should not have understood more thoroughly the difference between actual theft and a commercial swindle, and had they have only gone in for the latter, they might now have been free men, with nothing more than their conscience to accuse them, and yet have been possessed of fourteen thousmd pounds, that amount in boots and shoes would have been actually more convertible than the gold and notes this worthy couple abstracted from the Camp at Clyde. Under the Amendment Bill, there will be no more filing a declaration in Insolvency by unscrupulous debtors, who, snapping their lingers at their creditors, play ducks and drakes with their estate, between that and adjudication. This, or an assignment for the benefit of creditors, constitutes an act of insolvency, all property must be at once surrendered to I the Provincial Trustee, and any ! creditor may petition for immediate \ adjudication. The Bill contains another I very important chaise, as under it, ' before a Certificate or release can be granted, a creditor must pay, or rather his estate, a dividend of ten shillings in the pound, or else his creditors must certify to the Court, by a resolution at a meeting convened for that purpose, that it was not the fault of tbe bankrupt that bis estate did not I realise that sum, and at the same I time requesting his discharge This is doubtless a very stringent regulation but it will only effect tbe dishonest debtor, the balance ol whose liabilities failing the? payment of ten shillings in the pound, will become judgment debts against him at the end of three years. The number of insolvency cases have increased alarmingly lately and we feel assured that many cases have come before the court here which should have been kept out. It is of course necessary that debtors should be protected from inexorable or vindictive creditors, but as a rule great forbearance is exercised. If there is any sin, it is on the part of debtors, who rush into Court to rid themselves of liabilities which the exercise of a little extra exertion and economy on their puts wculd have effectually liquidated.