THE Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 1880. HIT HIM AGAIN—HE HAS NO FRIENDS.

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 50, 23 June 1880, Page 2

THE Manawatu Times.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 1880. HIT HIM AGAIN— HE HAS NO FRIENDS.

u Words «re thing*, and a drop; of ink falling like dew upon n thought, produces that which makes thousand*, perhaps millions think."

Wb are at a loss to account for. the. antagonistic feeling evinced towards the. laboring, classes by the. majority oi the. Press. !Por our own part, we bold,ly assert that the working men of this Colony, from year's end to year's end, exhibit an amount of patience which may be looked for. in vara in their fellows of the. Old Co.untry; and it ia in no small degree in their favor that, whatever may b© their privations or hardships, those riots which are of common o.c 7 currence at Home, are unknown in the colonien. Can it be denied that ' many a poor, fellow has to. tramp : h.ujid^eds of miles, footsore, hungry, : and weary, in search of employment ; which, if he be fortunate enough to, obtain, he is glad to crawl at night : beneath a canvas rag to screeu him'seif from the elements. D,uriag the few. mouths when shearing or harvesting requires his services, he is sought after; and the high figure which his labojr commands in those needful times, is. talked about and written about, as if it were within hi,s reach during the. fifty-two weeks of the year. As will occur now and again, when, spine good-for-npthiog. scape-grace has been offered work' which he is loth to accept, the fact is he.ra.lded throughout the. length, and breadth of the land-. The ' Northern' papers publish it, and the. Southern papers extract ib; eoin"merits are made., on it, a.^d a.dditiojns. are tacked to it, until it appears as if the whole class were aji idle vagabondising lot, whose sole aversion was the work they^e.emedso anxious "to obtain. Do the journals retail the weary struggle, the dispiriting disappointments, and the rebuffs that \&re daily experienced iu the ,^ruitlei»s search for work, JSTo ; but shoujd ft few, grown, tired of the M icjaw^beei an policy i in au orderly .r^soectful manner interview the authorities with a request for em- • ployineu.t, they are immediately denounced as malcontents, too lazy to work, and only anxious for agitation. Tliis is the treatmeiit to which a ! number ; _-o£ ; r urif brtuna'tes were subjected a few "Weeks since, and instead of receiving that sympathy and protection from those whose duty it ' was to defend the weak and powerless, they were loaded with taunts which were as" false as they were .undeserved. JEfor taking . the only course' open to them,' a portion e'f the Pre»« set upon upon them in a most cowardly manner, impugned the sincerity of their intentions, and while prophesying that the work .would not be accepted, condemned them before-nandj and without' a trial. Notwithttanding all that high-souniiiug . philosophy ' a,bout •*.tbe dignity of labor,'*' I .' there ' U a . wide difference between it in theory ,iind practice; and whe^a it is remembered that the. wopk offered to skilled mechanics by tae (xovernmeut was that of " pick and shovel" — an becupatiou whtcli ' it requires. a great stretch of imagination, to" assimilate wich either dignity or profit — : the fact thajs there were but f«w deserters givejs. the. lie direct to the calumnies which had been published. VVhen the wave of inisfdrtuue takes in the merchant or' Hie well-to-do storekeeper, different ia the feeling exhibited for them in their " misfortune," and they are not expeoted to deprive themselves of their s i ! avorite wines, or bring their fasttrotting horsas to. the hammer. Pebtor and creditors meet together in- friendly converse ; the former ; «ffers a few shillings ia the £, \jrhich. the latter, as a matt«r of course, accept, aud the, whole party adjourn to the nearest hotel to celebrate the delicate negotiation in bumpers of champagne. Very little care and less inquiry is given to ascertain the reason ef the. "unfortunate's "position, and the ? Consequence i« that the moment the neat little arrangement has. been concluded, this favored heliotrope turns his face again to- asui which beams with greater effulgence than ever. How different with the unfortunate tradesman ! Although, he may hare spent seren long years in learning : a handicraft, he is to have no. punctilios as to the toil ha is to encounter.' ' It matteri not that he is possessed of •kJUe t d knowledge little short of pro-

fessional; lie ii, under the penalty of being as idle and disoontentcd, toacr cept roadrinalcing or ■tone-hreaking, and blesi the fat^s for. tb.» privilege. For him there 9i* no oharapaj;ne ■upper* or expression* of .sympathy, the .ouder, being, -'Hit h.i m againi b-aB/HO friends.':' l ; ' ! ' '.-