WAGES IN OTAGO.

Evening Star, Issue 3822, 25 May 1875, Page 2

WAGES IN OTAGO.

To the Editor. Sir, —Being a constant reader of the Stab, I have been interested by various letters and statements which have appeared in its columns relating to artisans in Dunedin and their wages and also as to their social position. I have taken this opportunity, through the medium of yonr paper of showing both sidss of the question, and I leave the public to judge. The first letter that attracted my attention was written by an Engineer” recently arrived in I)unedimaud who apparently had been disappointed m his prospects here, and deceived by emigration agents at Home with regard to New Zealand. I believe his story was, like many others. an oyer true tale ;” his letter was refuted by an individual who explained that he was not a nt man for a Colony. In a city like Dunedin* where all classes of workmen are required, I should think he is a proper man at his own occupation. He was recommended to take the l? l j a °d shovel for it, but declined, as he considered himself unsuitable for such an occupav!° n * he was right, as he would only have been an object of sympathy or derision amongst his fellow navvies. He knew best himself what he' was fitted for. If such men are unsufted for the Colony let the Government send them Home again. I know instances of persons little short of lunatics who have been sent to the Colony; and who are responsible for this but the Government agents? But this man fared no worse than the majority of engineers and blacksmiths who on arrival in any of the Provinces ge employed for about a fortnight or six weeks at the longest. Vt the end of that period are Informed they must knock off, and call back in three or four weeks time only to meet with fresh disappointment; he is informed that this state of matters always exists till once one gets “worked in.” This "work-ing-in ” generally occupies three or four years, and a deal of cringing and self-denial must be studied and gone through before it is completed. Engineers and blacksmiths are not the only class of workmen who fare badly in this respect; masons are quite as bad. They are also informed by lecturing agents at Home that they

receive fourteen shillings per day In New Zealand, bnt no mention is made d! the uncertainty of employment, which is hard to find in any of these trades, and workmen have to keep calling for days, sometimes weeks, before they get employed. I leave right-thinking men to judge if this is a fair way to treat workmen. There have been several proposals made to form a society to assist artisans in getting employment, but there is no need for such a society if employers wonld act justly towards their workmen instead of inserting ridiculous puffs in the daily papers, such as about blacksmiths earning L2 per day in Dunedin, and asking what our blacksmiths at Homo wonld think of such wages. The blacksmith who is supposed to* he earning this handsome sum has two nammennen.to pay. This was a most important item to omit mentioning, If blacksmiths at Homo knew tho rate of wage; and the uncertainty of employment they would only be disgusted with such reports. I do not include horse-shoers, for whom there is plenty of work at good wages. No person ean deny that some classes of workmen do better here than at Home, Still workmen at Home ought to be shown both sides of the picture and be allowed to judge for themselves. It is only by unselfish and manly behaviour towards each other that masters or workmen can succeed, and as a well-wisher of the Colony I hope it will be more practised in Dunedin.—l am, he., A Lover op Justice. Dunedin, May 23.