A NOTABLE HARVEST HOME.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 356, 13 May 1884, Page 5

A NOTABLE HARVEST HOME.

4, [From the ' New Zealand Herald.'] The Harvest Home on the Matamata Estate this year was a very successful affair. Mr J. C. Firth, proprietor of the estate, made to Ms workpeople a speech which contains ai great deal of food for study. We make some, extracts from it : — I well remember the time when 1 the whole 56,000 acres of which the estates consist would not feed 100 head of cattle. The wh 3le domain at first was one wild wilderness of fern and ti-tre, not a blade of grass to bo found anywhere except at one or two Native settlements. Now, this wretched natural vegetation has "been succeeded Toy many thousands of acres of wheat and clover, In place of the few native horses and native rats of former days, thousands of cattle and "-.'ii.ire now quietly feeding. In the i, distant past Native troubles were a rial danger. Thank God. we now live in more peaceful times. Formerly it was a common thing for Matamata workmen to go to work armed. Every ploughman carried a rifle, every stockman a revolver. Living far beyond the Frontier, we had to depend on ourselves as best we could. Again and again threatened by armed natives, I found it necessary to fortify my house. Outrages of various kinds, though not very serious, were committed by wandering parties of hostile Natives. On two occasions I had to abandon the estates and leave all my cattle, sheep, and property in charge of two friendly Native chiefs. Not far from this hall the greatest , patriot of this island— one of Nature's noblemen — William Thompson, the Maori King-maker, died, and it is perhaps greatly due to his dying injunctions to his people that I was able to hold the estates all through the troublous times. Close to where we are now assembled I also met the warrior chief Te Kooti. I felt, then, that if he were a great sinner he had been greatly sinned against. At any rate, I must say this much for him, that nothing would have been easier than for him to have killed me and the one or two servants who were at my side. — (Cheers.) All through these native difficulties lam grateful to be able to say that no hostile shot has been fired, or any "blood of either race shed, on the plains of Matamata. In order to give confidence to my workmen and their families I subsequently erected a tower of concrete which would enable me to hold the country against any of the hostile bands which used to prowl about. Thanks to the policy of the Hon. John Bryce, my fort is now only . used as a substantial dwelling, and .to hoist on the flagstaff as on this occasion, the Jgrand old flag of England ; serving also, perhaps, to remind all future settlers of the. dangerous time& through which we early colonists passed; — (Cheers.) ; ... ■ Nowadays we hear a good deal said about the antagonism of capital and labor. Capital is not infrequently described as some dreadful' ogre, seeking j only to devour labor.., .Now, such talk as this in a new country is. pjire nonsense ! and humbug, hardly worth 'notice, were it not both mischievous an^ 1 dangerous. — (Cheers.) These: jjeople teil us that capital must be manacled,, that it must be 'taxed, and that disabilities of j various kinds must be imposed upon it. j Few' errors could be more dangerous, or 1 more ; fatal to the : true .welfare- of. labor. Hightly considered, capital and. labor are i mutual helpers ; and I say that whoever j tries to drive capital out of a hew country [ like this, or whoever seeks by this means , to prevent its, introduction, is a public enemy. — (Cheers.) Capital is a coy bird. It is. very shy. of being trapped and plucked. If we go on denouncing it, and threatening it with . special taxation, so that it cannot find profitable occupation — we need not take the trouble to drive it out of the Colony J by clamor or legislation — it will take itself off- soon enough^ 'Yoii all know so^methrng^ of cattle. You sec enough of them every | day. Well, capital and la^or-ai c ' like the cow and the calf. v The cow gives milk to the calf until the cal£ becomes in its turn a cow. So, fed by capital, a laborer may become a capitalist.' Now as to the question of wages. It appears to me that with sueh 1 , low prices as agriculturists have for. some time past I been obtaining for their wheat, wool, and cattle, it is pretty evident that the present rate of wages cannot be ■ maintained. When Canterbury farmers '■ are getting about 3s a bushel for their wheat at the nearest railway station, it is dear that the capital of the farmers is rapidly | passing into the pockets o£ their laborers. At present, labor gets the oyster : whilst in too many cases, capital gets only the shells. This, you may say, is quite proper and pleasant, and what is wanted. But it- must not be pushed too far, or capitalists, will one of these days say, like the frogs in the fable, " what is fun to you is death to us." In short, if the rates of labor and the price of. the products of labor continue at their present respective levels, it does not need a very wise man to see that farmers and their laborers before long will have to change places. Auckland at the present time is apparently looking well. This prosperity is, however, not so real as it looks. The great timber companies are certainly paying moderate dividends, but they are not paying them from the results of the skilled labor they employ, but out of the noble they are destroying, and which s o little has been done to replace. Almost all the great producing industries of this and other parts of the Colony are being strangled by the low values they receive for what they produce, when they have to pay sucli high wages for producing Wheat is lower now in the English market than for twenty years, whilst wool has not been so low for fifty years. It is quite ' clear that producers must either got higher prices, pay lower wages, or be ruined, It is to be hoped that prices are now at the bottom. Wool, I feel certain, will shortly advance. About wheat lam not so clear. Certainly, if they move at all. it must be upwards, for they cannot well be lower. I hope you understand that I do not complain of paying too high wages myself. — (Cheers.) I want to make a profit though ; which at present, like others, I am unable to do, except to a small extent, by the use of the most costly and j>erfect machinery. I never did believe in slavery ; I don't believe in it now ; I want to make a profit by using to the upmost iron and steel, directed by intelligent and capable men. I like that better than working men like slaves. Though during this year we haye. produced and stacked on this estate thousands of tons oE clover hay and wheat, no man has lifted a sheaf of wheat or a forkful of hay on to waggon or stack. Machinery has done ifc all. Not a man of you, so to speak has turned a hair,— (Cheers.) Nevertheless, at prer sent prices, growing wheat is. simply exhausting the soil, and gfetti'ng : little or j nothing for it. '■

I have endeavored to treat you more as friends than workmen. T have striven to make you happy and contented. You know very well I allow no bullying, no cursing at Matamata. — (Cheers.) If a man won't do a fair day's work without that for a fair day's wages and plenty of good food, he is no man for me, and he very soon gets the walking ticket. — (Cheers.) You know I allow no drinking at Matamata. There is no public house on the estate, and never wiil "be — (loud cheers.) — as long as I hold it. System, order, obedience, and regularity are the aim oE the management on this, estate. I see a number of { you are wearing the blue ribbon, and I am heartily glad to see that. The wearer of the blue ribbon is far more likely to find a good master and to get good pay than the man who gives way to drink. Many have congratulated me to-day o£ the fine set of workmen I have at Matamata. You can't be beaten, I know, when work is to be done. If any of you have not been well treated, get up and say so. I greatly regret that the wretched prices now current for all kinds of agricultural produce compel me to announce that I intend to discharge the greater part of my workmen, and reduce my outlay and operations on this estate to a minimum. Though we had a fair crop of wheat, of excellent quality for the season, and most excellent crops of clover hay, it does not pay to produce either at present prices, considering that all the time we are impoverishing the land and getting little or nothing for it. It is better to cease cropping, and let the land retain its fertility, than to exhaust the fertilising elements and get nothing to replace them. We haA r e heard almost the last whirr of the machinery. It is a very painful thing for me to dispense, for some time at least, with as fine a body of men as ever worked for any master. ' But it must be done nevertheless. When times mend, so as .to warrant resuming operations, nothing will give me greater pleasure than for everyone of you to enter my service, again if you so please. lam not one of those, as you know, who think there is any degradation in labor. . On the contrary, I think a manly and capable workman is one of the noble works of God,