The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the Wast Coast. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29. 1885. DULL TIMES AND THE WORKING MEN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1594, 29 December 1885, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily N ewspaper on the Wast Coast. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29. 1885. DULL TIMES AND THE WORKING MEN.

The New Zealand Herat I strong- I ly deprecates the disposition shown by a section of the Auckland car- I pentcrs to "go on strike " because wages have been reduced by one shilling a day. Our contemporary very sensibly points out that the hope can scarcely be entertained that we shall soon resume the brisk times for carpenters and other tradesmen ' that we have had m Auckland up till lately. This is a very bad time to commence a movement to keep ! up wages. Working men must remember that, when things become dull, the only hope of preventing them from becoming worse is for those mechanics who cannot go to where wages are brisk to submit to some reduction m the wages they receive. People who now have any mind to build expect to get their work done for less than was paid some twelve months ago. If they cannot do that they will not build at all. When business is dull, protits small, and competition keen amongst contractors, it is out of the question to think that the wages of labour can be kept up at the same rate as when contractors got large prices, and were eagerly seeking for men. When things are dull to insist upon wages being kept up is quite certain to diminish the amount of work that has to be done. And apart altogether from this view of the question, there remains the fact that as a rule no substantial or enduring benefits are attained by the mechanics who go on strike. While they are out of work, no wages are earned, and undesirable habits are contracted; and even if the object of the strike is temporarily attained, it is at the sacrifice of mutual good feeling between employers and employes, and involves a considerable and inevitable pecuniary loss to the latter, not to speak of the feature of diminished self-re-spect and self-reliance. The working man who is true to himself, and acts : most consistently for nis own interests, is he who prefers employment, even at a slightly less rate of remuneration, to going about idle* and who is prepared to accept smaller wages and live more frugally, " until the clouds roll by."