The Evening Star MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3934, 4 October 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1875.

We have latterly had complaints from a tew professing to be workmen, of not being aide to obtain employment, while, on the other hand, employers in some parts of the country assert thev cannot find workmen. We have given insertion to most complaints by the working classes, because it is only right that if a man has a public grievance he should have the means of making it known. It must, however, be distinctly understood that the insertion of letters of that elass does not by any means identify us with the sentiments expressed. No doubt there are a few out of work : there always were and always will be some in every community. We are not too curious to investigate the reason why, of the letters we receive. In many instances it is to be feared there is something in the man himself or in his surroundings that prevents his finding employment. Ho may not be acquainted with a trade suitable to the Colonies, he may be an infeiior workman, or deficient in bodily activity or strength, or ho may be unwilling to accept the wages tendered him, or to leave thn precincts of the town to take work up the country. Each of these circumstances is often the ; cans® of want of work, and is made

th» tmoaaicai of coriplamt m news t - : ings, As A mutter of course, when u man makes up his mind to have a grievance, the Government of the day has tho blame thrust upon it. It is assumed by some of our correspondents that it has stooped to deceive working men; that, under false pretences, they have been induced to emigrate, and left to starve after bringing them sixteen thousand miles and paying their passage. The fact of paying the passage of an adult workman, his wife, and grown-up family, should at least lead to the question, what object had tho Colony in view in such extensive deception 1 People are not very apt to pay money for the sake of doing anyone an ill-turn that they never knew and who never did them any harm ; and the high wages paid in New Zealand should lead to the conviction that there is a great demand for labor for which the colonists are very willing to pay. We have no wish to add pain to those who are really meritorious, should they not have had the good fortume to meet with suitable engagements. It is difficult to reason with one whose stomach or pocket is empty. He is not very likely to listen calmly to arguments, however sound. Even hope has little effect in satisfying hunger. To tell such a one that the long winter has passed, and that fewer than usual have been unemployed is small consolation : yet it is the truth. The amount of work done during the winter at high prices has been very great, and as spring advances those who are now complaining may reasonably look forward to remunerative

employment at fair wages, if they can adapt themselves to the requirements of the Colony. The complaints are mainly from newcomers, fresh to everything around them, and unused to Colonial life. Perhaps it may be news to them to he told that were they in Great Britain at this moment the prospect of obtaining work would be far more gloomy than the darkest day they have exp.* n-mced here. In almost every trade at Home there is a determination on the part of employers to reduce the high wages that have been current during the last few years, simply because they cannot produce to a profit. Up to this year .the workmen have had the best of it; but things are changed, and the masters arc now closing their works unless they can manufacture cheaper. It must not be supposed that such a state of things can occur in a country so intimately connected with us as Great Britain, without affecting this Colony. We are quite prepared to believe that in some pursuits profits will be temporarily reduced. But, as a rule, the Colony will not be very seriously affected. Development must go on, and each mile of railway opened is so much added to our former industrial capability. Increased facilities for transit of Colonial produce lessen the cost of shipment of exports and reduce the difference between last year’s returns and the present. It would have been pleasanter for producers tc have had the money, but every additional facility tends to enable them tc sell their goods at less prices with but little diminished profits. The lines oi railway in course of construction ensure an amount of labor that will prevent any general slackness of work. Con currently with their prosecution, private enterprise opens up new fields for employment. Towns, villages, and hamlets will be built in the interior, farms will bo cultivated, mines opened, and these operations will give emplos rment to trades dependent upon them. When these railways are made, others will be found necessary to open up still wider areas of country, so that although there will be unlucky unemployed individuals, for years to come New Zealand will prove a field for a well-to-do increasing population.