Manamatu Herald. THURSDAY, JULY 19. 1894. Trust the People.

Manawatu Herald, 19 July 1894, Page 2

Manamatu Herald. THURSDAY, JULY 19. 1894. Trust the People.

The present political party now in power used to be very foad of saying " Trust the people," but nearly every new piece of legislation they propose places it clearly before all men that, in their opinion, " the people " are the last to be trusted. There is now before the House The Master and Apprentice Bill which if carried in its present shape will be an impediment instead of an aid to young persons getting employment. We are not going through the Bill, but to show how little the Government trust the people, that is, the parents of the apprentices, it is expressly set out that the master shall pay into a post-office savingsbank to the credit of the apprentice, half of the weekly wage?, which sum he or she is not to- have until the expiration of the apprenticeship. The object of such a provision is to secure the apprentice getting some share of his wages, and at the same time to secure that the parents are to <jret very little. From th 3 scale of wages set out in the Bill it is evident that for the first four years the apprentice, at the best paid trades, will not receive sufficient to feed and clothe him, as it is only in the fourth year that he is to receive onehalf of the average wage of the regular journeyman. Taking for illustration that the journeyman received two pounds a week," the apprentice in his fourth year is only to receive one pound a week, payable ten shillings in cash and ten shillings to his bank account. For the previous three years he has to receive much less, half of which is to be kept from the parent, so it will not be until the apprentice has entered his sixth year that it may be said he is able to support himself, and, from no fault of his own have been a burden and drag on his family. It does not as yet seem to have dawned upon the framer of this Bill that even during the second year of apprenticeship the young person might be unfortunate enough to have to provide for himself, and would have to do it on ten shillings a week, five shillings of which would be all there was for board and clothes and five shillings to fatten him on the expiration of a further four yea v :-\ All this has arisen from t!u want of trust, by our fatherly Government, in the parents of the young persons. If the people were to be trusted all this nonsense of investing the wages of their children would not ba needed as they could do it for themselves if they thought fit. Even if the parents are so neglectful of their children's prospects, as the Bill supposes, still i 1 " is evident very little thought has been given to tha troubles that come to the bread-winner of a large family, making it unfair that a hardy lad should not after he has reached fourteen years of age, lend a helping hand. This meddling legislation as to family life is very much to our distaste, we are willing to go to great lengths to encourage our settlers in habits of thrift, but to make laws as to how a household is to be governed, how; much wages may be received in cash and how much must'be placed in the bank, is a step which we doubt the colonists are as yet ready for. This Bill is another instance of how little the assumed poor man's friends know of his difficulties and how rash attempts to legislate in his favour act just contrarily to the iptention. This Bill will create much difficulty in getting apprentices placed in trades, and will occassion much difficulty to their parents to keep them in them.