THE The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 1879. THE STRUGGLE AR HOME.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 37, 19 March 1879, Page 2

THE The Manawatu Times.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 1879. THE STRUGGLE AR HOME.

" Words »re things, 'aud a drop of -ink falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, .perhaps millions think."

The news by the San Francisco mail, though happily conspicuous for the absence of that dread catalogue of death imd disaster for which it is usually noted, is by no .means of a cheering nature. The relations'- between capital and labor are at present upon tho most unsatisfactory basis, and the efforts of (be men are united i.i one county to resist the reduction of wages by the masters; while/in anotheivth.e;e.mployers of labor' are acting *on 'tlieicdafensiye: against the demands of their employes. The battle is being fought on both sides with a • hostility ami virulence which must necessarily have an injurious effect on leach, for thousands of ..pounds per week are being lost to the laborer, entailing misery, privation, and starvation upon their families ; while, on the other hand, nVanul'autbvies/are at a standstill^: and industries drifting to ruin. Quittf independently of'-those self :soiight evils, the present year has been a more than usually severe and trying one. Trade has reached an almost unparalleled state of dulness,' the mines haye not 'been,' working I with 'success, arid : the. numerous' an^l extensive failures have all tended to contribute to the prevail-'---;in'g stagnation. In the County ofcpur;ham no less than seven thousand miners afelidle, and tjioulistress has been unequalled since the year 1845.; while m Cluckbur.n alone, it 'is estimated, that one-seventh of the. looms. are v stopped, and about 500 people p -riVctly destitute. With hunger' and famine all around, the- two: classes appear to have wi 1f n lly an d obstinately. setv4h em sel ye s to the task of destrbyirig; those gifts vniieh have been placed ; in their hands, for, we learn that- there are thirty- live grain-laden ships at Queenstown, deserted by. the.- crew, who were on strike; while" iii the meantime the, grain was left heating m the hold,' to Become perfectly useless. It certainly does appear strange tliat, with -so many and- bitter experiences ...obtained .by,,- 'both .sides of the suicidal folly of such insane struggles, they will, again and again be renewed; only to the destruction of b^plh.i.. Those., life-sacrificing contests, c >|lijchj;haye now almost become oßronic <W& ! -bc.ii- • r\q-cpiency, are sure. ..indices 4U>qit- thor population of Englan'd-isi.^st ou,tKroWii'u,g*" its resources, arid that spojs'^qr'ola^er an outlet will .have, to vbe^sca^ht^fori its starving, thousands. fttas.pJ^F}^^ merging into; the same jupnditipn as^ere ' the farming^coinTOn'ntiy m times' gon^by/.Tlicy Vkne\vg§io '>vprld bayond ' .th^'limits of .th^iivcpuntyijior saurce .of v sv,st'epanc^ ;o,ntsid§ thercpnfi<nes .of Jttietr in.heriiance. $li;e !"3?trc|ng n Mariner liVod yi ease and | cem fort milt ri tis son reacljeli, inaiiliood, (•".iyhen the .ajcrqs were 'divided, "aQd he ! tookiunto Uunsolf a wife. He followed Hhe example of his father, a.nd : hi* sons ; tolloAved tlieirs, and' v so as; generation suv'ceoded- generation the patrimony of each became more circumscribed, until ifc eveiitual iy»' narrowed down to a struggle for' bare, existence. This is the Vase m GreW Britain to-day, but ; perhaps the fact beyond all others' -which- is most accountable; ifpr^chaos, m commercial matters, arid anarchy m trade,- :is the s,ad- -truth that she does ndtjiold that" proud;, preeminence as a. manufacturing country which wras-once, hor. mainstay.' 1 BotlLah her. hardware, and. cotton trade England, by no,me'ans ; holds'- t-he'saimp stajtn? iW.hivh sh^ di.d ; somp .'"years; r ago, and/j the. competi tioja: w'ith-^thpr cpiintries 'is. npw so ;keen that' £h& inßg herself pay the 'high dernahai^m.^^by.artisaiis for -^tlfei'r labdß vT}nis?w.ill account .for th.ct uri'oDMii'lls and .m.anu factories, 'Itfefl unf otfladitef ' -etori\abjj.4coin, |ftG>ipln%«tttl, cojuj^ifiS^rPP 1 "an siereßft**at«Pioni<i finds.it far bojtierj ■W retire trbii afcpnfcat wljj^h-yiyldßinq :proiifc ajid-innoh pain.