The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1896. CLASS LEGISLATION.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 30, 4 August 1896, Page 2

The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1896. CLASS LEGISLATION.

Although «ab may complain with justice of the. cxc*sssive taxation the people of this colony have to bear, and the consequent dullness of fcr&de and lack of employment for unskilled labor, yet in New South Wales it would appear the reopleare fat- worse oif. The wharf laborers in Sydney complain that they have never had such a miserable winter. In confirmation of this we publish an extract from a letter received by an Otago resident, quoted in the Taieri Advocate of the

29th ulto. It says:— "The distress existing in Sydney is simply heartrending. There are hundreds of men, women and children who are homeless and starving. To give you an idea of the extent of the distress and poverty, I may mention that at a recent sitting | of the directors ot the Benevolent Asylum the meeting continued from 9.30 in the morning until 4 p.m. As the result of a deputation of women that waited on the Premier for the purpose of asking for work for the unemployed the sum of L2OOO was granted to the Benevolent Asylum to be expended in affording relief to the unemployed and their wives and families till work was provided for them. The gpneral staff of the Asylum was engaged in issuing relief in the shape of groceries, food, blankets, and boots from 7 a.m. till 8 p.m. An adjournment of thirty minutes was made for lunch, but no time could be spared to partake of tea. In all, 650 men and women, representing 2030 persons, received assistance. The maximum allowance was six loaves of bread. 61b flour, 61b meat, 31b sugar, ilb tea ; the minimum (for two persons) being four loaves, 21b flour, 21b meat, and a small quantity of sugar and tea. Upon one day this week the ordinary distribution to widows and orphans took place, the number of cases relieved being 1000, representing 3000 adults and children. And this is prosperous Sydney— the paradise of the working man !" This is a dreadful picture, and we fear there will be no chauge for the better while the fever for class legislation still rages in the minds of those who have already worked so much evil as political adventurers trading on the credulity and passions of the ignorant and the unreflecting. They have destroyed that confidence which should exist between the employer and the employed, while giving nothing in its place, »nd created a wide gu!f between capital and labor which will take many years of bitter experience to bridge over. Things have not reached the same st nge in this colony, perhaps for the reason that we have so many " centres " in the principal ports, while Now South Wales has but one, besides having a larger population to contribute " wiifi and strays." Still, our class legislation has already begun its evil work, and the consequences are daily becoming more apparent by the increased number of men lacking employment, while enterprise is dead in those who have the meanr, because they have only too much reason to dread the future, which, unless there comes a marked change in our rulers and governors, promises to be as menacing to them as in the six years just past.