LIVING ON EACH OTHER.

Kumara Times, Issue 1103, 13 April 1880, Page 4

LIVING ON EACH OTHER.

Analysing the proportion of trades and occupations reported in the last addition to the census tables, some striking results appear. The Press says the moat noticeable fact brought out by the figures is the small number of people in this Colony really engaged in pursuits which are in the proper sense of the word reproductive. The great staple exports of the colony—the sources from which we derive the greater portion of our wealth—are wool, gold, grain, and animal products, such as preserved meats, leather, tallow, &c. Yet the number of people engaged in producing these commodities is small compared with the rest of the population. This state of things proves the existence in this community of a great disinclination on the part of many to undertake the real work of colonisation. The result is the population of our towns is altogether out of proportion to that of the country. Instead of directing their energies to developing the vast resources of the colony, men prefer living upon each other. The rising generation especially are taught to despise honest industry and reproductive work. They crowd every avenue leading to>hat are called the “ genteel” employments. The Government offices, Banks, and merchants j counting houses are besieged wiih eager applicants. All this is, of course, exceedingly unsatisfactory. Had the founders of the colony held similar views, would New Zealand have held the position she now occupies? We think not. But it was far otherwise with them. They came here to subdue the wilderness, and they set about the task like men who were deeply impressed with the heroic work they had undertaken. If New Zealand is to be as great and prosperous in the future as she ought to be, considering her yet undeveloped resources, the rising generation must be taught to look upon even manual labor as far more honorable than a miserable existance on a petty salary, as a clerk in a bank or in a merchants’ office.