DEPUTATION OF LABOURERS TO J. W. TREADWELL.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 545, 17 March 1876, Page 3

DEPUTATION OF LABOURERS TO J. W. TREADWELL.

To the Editor of the Globe, Sir, — I received on Wedneyday a deputation representing several hundred labouring men, who thanked me for the series of letters published in the Globe , and particularly for my last letter on Taxation, They requested me to explain my views upon the question of wages, but as some of them are in Government employ they do not wish their names to appear. To Mr H and others, as deputation from labourers, Brother Electors—The question ®f wages is simply an example of the law of supply and demand. The prosperity of any nation stands thus— High wages equal great prosperity Low wages equal poverty, ruin, and failure Eight hours is admitted to be town labour lime, though not of course on farms. The conduct of Mr Rowe and Sir G. Grey lately towards the labourers is very reprehensible, because any fictitious effort to create labour is not only of no good to the labourers, but brings evil upon them and upon the State. So in the telegrams of Wednesday’s Globe we see the labourers, once roused by the cry “ Revolution or work,” refuse passage to Wellington, and work offered there. I regret exceedingly to see members of the House do these things, it damages our cause. The real remedy lies deeper, “ Good political economy,” consisting of a proper land law, free selection at a price sufficient to make roads and works over the land ; also a reservation to the commonwealth of all minerals, wheresover found. Coal is far more valuable than gold ; indeed politically any mineral is better, and more profitable than this wretched gold, that humans hanker for so desperately ; and yet your minerals are given away to rich speculators at £2 per acre, laying the foundations for such fearful fortunes as Lord Dudley’s four millions a year. Reservation alone can save us from such an awful evil. Labour is the only maker of wealth. Labour is the only value in the world. The rich feed, live on the poor. Without labour, the rich would cease to live. Now every rich man, of necessity, becomes dishonest; for it is easier for a bullock to squeeze through the eye of a little needle, than for a rich man to be honest. So in Canterbury we see immense wealth, made by labour, and the rich have stepped in, got large slices of land at l£d per acre, got all the best land under pre-emptive rights, bought some land by a fluke at 10s per acre, refused to pay any taxes, sold the right to minerals with the soil, and allowed the laws to be broken with impunity. Mr Andrews in the Council effected nothing for you ; his only remarkable acts are breaking in upon the working man’s day of rest, by forcing some to work at the Museum, and endeavouring to burn the general public; but he has closed his political career by accepting £3OO a year as overseer for the Government, I have myself been asked by several agents (they may have acted for a certain Bank or the Government, or not ; I dont know) 11 Whether I would accept a billet from the Government ?” The rich, to put your patience and ignorance to the test, closed our last House by passing a general Act of Indemnity. That is, “ Forgiveness by themselves, to themselves, of all the law breaking of which they acknowledge themselves guilty. I have been, puzzled to know “ Why the Governor did not veto the Bill ?” But the fearful corruption of New Zealand shows itself worst in the daily newspapers. I gave a speech of three hours to the public. This speech was both emasculated and suppressed. To give you an instance, I proprosed to give £25.000 a year, which our Government squander on the Volunteer puppet show, and use it to make roads and bridges, and rightly so, because New Zealand must be defended at sea, and not on land, and that £25,000 a year would employ 250 labourers at £IOO a year for ever. All the substance of the twenty letters which have now appeared was given to the public then, and a great deal more, but the Lyttelton Times and the Star belong, I am told, to Mr Reeves, a politician directly opposed to me, and he having great objection to let the truth appear, because it would expose the hollowness of the arguments used in his papers, the Times and the Star, My speech was suppressed—the truth was burked. The people’s cause may be best served, I think, by three remedies I propose to you : 1. To use only one organ as a People’s Paper, and to state your troubles through it, and take public action through it. 2. A committee of respectable tradesmen is to be formed for the welfare of the People. 9. Meetings should be held in the People’s Park to pass resolutions and to circulate such resolutions throughout New Zealand—in order to put our Finance, Banking, Taxation, Land, Debt, Education, &c, &c, &c, upon an honest footing. I remain, Brother Electors, Yours, &c, J. W. TREADWELL.