Excerpta.

Kaikoura Star, Volume XIV, Issue 743, 1 June 1894, Page 2

Excerpta.

‘The Living Wage.’

The Secretary of the Labour Electoral Reform Association of Great Britain and Ireland, Mr T. Threifall, contributor of notes to the Manchester Weekly Times on ‘ The Labour W orld,’ writes as follows on a theme which may be regarded as a ‘ burning question ’ in the Old World. He says : * I have been requested by a number of correspondents to express my opinion on ‘ The Living Wage,’ and if possible to more clearly define what is really meant by this expressive phrase. The task is undoubtedly a one difficult, and has so farbaffled editors, labour leaders, ministers of religion, and social reformers. If human beings were constituted like steam engines, and required a fixed quantity of a particular kind of food or fuel then one might calculate to a nicety the cost of maintenance. But they are not. In fact the expression ‘ a living wage ’ is a relative term. As everyone knows an English workman would starve upon the wage which would give to the Chinaman and the Hindoo luxuries ; nor could he keep going long upon the wretched fare of the Polish Jew or the German workman. This is not a peculiarity of the nation. In the 13th aud 14th centuries the fare of the poor consisted of black bread and water, with occasionally a little bacon or meat; and three-quarters of a century ago the food of the people was of a very much plainer description than that regarded as necessary today. Tea, coffee, sugar, cocoa and many other articles of ordinary consumption now were then regarded as luxuries, and it is a significant fact that the consumption of butter, bacon, eggs, meat and many other things is now more than double wbat it was 50 or 60 years ago. These facts are significant, and must be borne in mind when dealing with the question of ‘ a Jiving wage.’ Despite the many social evils, the poverty and bad trade under which we are now suffering, it is a gratifying fact that during the last generation the standard of comfort has sensibly risen. While it is true that there is too much Buffering, wretchedness, and want, it is a fact which few will care to dispute that the luxuries of one generation have become the necessities of the next. And it is to the credit of the people that they are not satisfied. Indeed, this striving for a better and a fuller life is one of the best and noblest signs of the times, for when either a nation, or an individual, reaches its ideal then there is no more progress, no more striving, and it therefrom sinks into apat’y and decay. This inquiry into and demand for a living wage is therefore a matter to rejoice over. It clearly shows that men of all classes have made up their minds to discard for ever the old, bard, and somewhat cruel doctrine which reached its climax in the buying even of human labour at the cheapest possible rate without the slightest regard as to the claims of humanity or the dictates of Christianity. But in saying this do not let it be for a moment supposed that I am condemning Freetrade. On the contrary, I admit that this system has conferred marvellous benefits upon the people. Freetrade gave cheap food, developed our commerce, created work for tens of thousands, and increased the wealth of the Slate many fold. And if this rapidlv created wealth has gone into the hands of the few instead of the many it is not the fault of Freetrade, but is owing to our defective social and political systems. It is exactly the same with machinery. Every mechanical invention through being labour saving—should make the burden of labour lighter to the workpeople. But the fact that such inventions are in the bunds of individuals rather than the community too often distorts them into engines of trouble and distress. Now the demand for ‘a living wage,’ although it is a faulty, and to some extent, a misleading expression, really marks a new and a nobler interpre-

tation of ‘ Freetrade.’ Behind it is the demand for a greater share of the wealth of the State. It is sufficiently elastic to allow of the broadest interpretation, for just as the people gain power, so will the standard be raised until the life even of the ordinary workman, so far as material comforts are concerned, will be worth living.

Now the public mind is being exercised at the present moment as to the exact figure which might be taken as a • living wage.’ Possibly with the object of discovering this the editor of the Christian World has been interviewing a number of prominent men in the realm of literature and politics. But although 28 leading men have thus endeavoured to solve the problem, the public are as far off a solution as ever. The only point upon which they really do seem to agree is that the workmen and not the employers—as hitherto—shall fix the ‘ living wage.’ That, of course, is a distinct gain. 1 don’t know whether some of these gentlemen have inquired closely into the every day life of the miners, but if they had they would be compelled in justice to demand that they should have an advance of at least 25 per cent upon their present wages, but this would only bring the average up to 255., instead of the 80s. and 355., which is paid in the engineering, the building, the printing, and other trades. Possibly it may be urged that as the men engaged in these occupations are occupants of large towns they have to pay more for rent, and that the cost of living in a large town is very much greater than it is to those who reside in the country.

To some extent this is no doubt true, although I know mining villages—indeed, I passed through some the other day—where the rents of really small cottages range from 3s 6d to 4s 6d per week, and where no gardens or allotments are provided. In such cases as this it is difficult to see where the economical advantage of living in the country comes in. The fact is that it is only in the purely agricultural districts that rents may be said to be comparatively cheap. I have seen really comfortable cottages with a large garden attached and a pig stye on the outskirts of the village, and the rent each tenant paid was only Is 6d per week. It is thereiore obvious that the term ‘ a living wage ’ represents a varying sum of money, as the occupations and the locality are taken into account. It is this fact* which makes it difficult for me to entirely endorse what I believe is a point of the Social Democratic platform, viz., that the State shall fix a minimum wage of 30s per week. On the other hand, I firmly believe the time is rapidly approaching when some public tribunal will have to take up this task. Why cannot each county appoint its own minimum wages board ? If the employers and workmen each elected an equal number of representatives—care being taken to have one from each side for every trade and with representatives appointed by the particular County Council to act as referees and to give effect to the decisions of the tribunal, we might entertain the hope that these terrible industrial wars, which bring untold suffering and which everyone deplores, would very seldom take place. It may, of course, be urged that there would be the greatest discrepancy between counties, and that the men from the lower paid districts would Hock into the higher paid ones. But this is an unnecessary fear. Such a tribunal as I have indicated would safely watch any such danger, for they would be the chief sufferers.

3 he benefits of such a body need not stop here. It might with ease take the question of hours and the entire domain of capital and labour under its perview, for I hold that just as it is the duty of the model capitalist to consider the living principle of the wages he pays, so it is the duty of labour to have a legitimate desire and pride for the development of trade and the noblest and best use of capital. Now, it is because the recent great coal strike— |

with its consequent discussions on ‘ the living wage ’ —has driven home to every thoughtful and right thinking citizen the inter-dependence of capital and labour and the rights of humanity, that I for one view the future with infinite faith and hope. The duty of man to his brother, so long forgotten, is now sung louder than ever it has been before.

Tramway Life-guard

Electric and cable tram cars in America are driven at a speed which would not be tolerated in this country, and as a consequence, accidents to pedestrians frequently occur. To reduce the liability of injury as much as possible from collision with cars, a lifeguard has been introduced, which consists of an iron frame, bolted to the under part of the car body, and extending in front of the car abont 3 feet. The frame is made of one inch gas pipe, hinged in such a manner that it can be folded up when the car is reversed or stored, occupying a space of only ten inches. Wire nettting covers the bottom and extends upwards at a right angle and in front of the car platform, about six inches from the dashboard, the horizontal portion of the netting and frame being six inches from the track or roadway. The wire netting is attached to the frame by springs, thus preventing a person caught up iu the fender from receiving any serious shock or injury. Across the front end of the fender there is an elastic steel frame covered with a rubber tube five inches in diameter. This is connected to the ends of the fender frame by two short springs, making a very elastic buffer; with this buffer a person standing on the track would first come in contact, and owing to its yielding nature and to the fact that there is nothing solid across the front end of the fender (the end of the frame being practically open, as the cross bar is placed back eight inches from the outer end) the blow struck is a cushion one. There is also a second rubber guard ten inches high, attached to the bottom netting eight inches from the front end of the fender. This guard has a spring-controlled rearward movement; and, when in position stands upright. Its object is to prevent a person from being thrown out of the fender after having been caught up.— The Hailmay World, London, for February.

‘ 1 Chestnut.’

The following explanation of the term * chestnut,’ as applied by the Americans to a stale joke, is given in the Manchester Times:—

A traveller of large imagination was won’t to tell of his marvellous escape from a gang of Greek brigands by hiding in a large shady tree. Ou one occasion he was speaking of this tree as an ‘ olive.’ One of his audience called out: ‘ A ‘ chestnut,’ you mean ?' ‘An olive, I tell you,’ replied the traveller.

‘ No,’ persisted the interrupter, * I have heard you tell the story scores of times, it was always a chestnut.’

A brilliant assemblage, including many members of the Hellenic Royal family, and the foreign Diplomatic body in Athens, gathered on March 29th at the French Archaeological School at Athens to hear the first performance of the Greek Hymn to Apollo, the music and words of which, engraved on a marble slab, were discovered last autumn in the excavations at Delphi. The director of the school first gave a lecture upon the importance of this unique find, and the hymn was then sung for the first time to a modern audience, after being buried in the earth for upwards of two hundred years.