The Sweating Commission.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 28 April 1890, Page 2

The Sweating Commission.

» . Tnx Sweating Commissioners have 1 eeaned taking; evidooce, and it seema clear thnt there hns not been disclosed t anything approaching to " sweat* ing" as it is understood in thQ old ' country. Ths Commission hu bten

of use so far, but they allowed thier time to bo taken up in listening to greviances which they asserted they had no powor to redrew. The action of an actire immigration agent at Home was exposed, but the victims, the lads, wei* only enjoined to be not cast down, aud the principles of thriftiness and sobriety woro duly instilled into them, when their prospects were, to be in receipt of nothing for one month, and five shillings for the labour of the second month! Keep sober! they were bound to, as they had nothing to got drunk on, except credit ! If tho other evidence heard, results similarly, the State will not gain much by the labours of the Commissioners. We notico that onei unnamed sensible individual Made an attempt to get tho worse kind of sweating practised in the Colony, before the Commission, b*nt as it affected powerful institutions tho matter was dropt as soon as mentioned. We refer to the manner in which Banks work their clerks. It appears to us monstrous that the evil is permitted to go on from year to y*ar without a strong protost being roado by the shareholders. We cannot blame the managers of the different branches of the Banks, as they are pratieally as much servants of the corporation they serve, as the junior clerks, and tho whole interest in life seems to actuate the Direc'ors to maintain a dividend out of the necessities of their employees. The Banks allure young mon into their clutohes by offering a fair rate of pay iot tho first few years of their engagement, ami keeping up tho absurdity that it is a superior sort of employment to othor kinds of labour. Th' A t this is the rankest nonsense r x eedß enly the reminder that after a few rears in a Bank, the employe is so unfitted to enter into tfje struggle for existence with the \juter world, that ho rnraains at a salary from £150 to £'200 without a proapeet of a rise for probably fifteen y«ars. Of course if tbis ia so, and it is so aiiitnd on excellent authority, and tho clerks are afraid to make the least complaint of overwork, the Bank can just " nigger" drive as they like, and apparently do so. This is " sweating ", the act of forcing a person to do that which he believes unfair, by fear of being discharged as a consequence of refusal. The superiority of Bauking as a living for one's sons does not stand oui in brilliant colours. Why is this so ? On every shareholder's list will be found persons of every denomination, many who pass a great part of their lifo in rolievinij the distress of thoir fellow creatures, yet when it becomes a matter of pounds, shillings and ptsneo, they aro apt to consider that they are in no way responsible for the action of their directors. Tho public have the control in their own hands, and in justice to their children, should use it. Parents should discourage tho notion that because his boy is in a bank, he i 9 tho least wit better than his son who is on tho farm, or he who is a capable mechanic, th^n the children would not be anx ous to enter the slavery of a banking concerJ, and it would onablfl thos-o, whose parents wero more foolish in the years gouo by, to securo a sufficient salary to maintain them -elves decontly, and only the ordinary hours of labour bo put in, such as tho do spised mechanic lias had sonso enough to secure. No employ ora of labour could be so careless of the comfort and health of their employees as Banks are, unless they were assured of endless applicants, and if we have directed but one parent to j the adviiab lity of seeing whether the inducements offered by these in- j stitutions in any way equal those, offered in other pursuits, wo shall not have written in vain. Ministers of religion, drawing their dividends from the profits of banking, are cor ■ tainly the first who should make some stir to see that their income is not obtained by the pressure of th§ weak.