THE WELLINGTON WORKING MEN'S CLUB.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 160, 4 July 1878, Page 4

THE WELLINGTON WORKING MEN'S CLUB.

The Fine Arts and Industrial Exhibition in connection with the above Club was opened on Monday afternoon by his Excellency tbe Governor, who delivered tbe following inaugural address: Before declaring thia Exhibition open, I wish to say a few words on what I believe to bo the more important duty of the day, the inauguration of the Working Men's Club of Wellington. These institutions are, I believe, pregnant with good. I believe tbat tbey will famish a want which has long been felt, and I trust tbat if they •re properly and satisfactorily managed, they will be the means of improving the social condition and habits of tbe working men of New Zealand. It is for (his reason that I have, whenever opportunity has occurred, endeavored to tbe utmost in my power to back up and assist the exertions of those who wished to institote them. This country of your'adoption offers a brighter and wider field io the working mau than perhaps any other country in the world. (When I say working man, I use the phrase in the limited sense in which it is generally understood ; for I hold that every man who is worth his salt, who is fit to live, is in ooe way or other a working man. (Cheers.) [One may possess large estates, but if he performs his duty, looks after those estates, and considers the interests of bis neighbors and (he country around bim, bis time will be fully occupied. One man mty turn hie attention to literature or to science, others may earn their bread by the labor of their hands ; but in many instances the labor of those who work with their heads ia harder than that of those who work with their hands. But Sir, I will pass from this mere digression, and turn to the subject of Working Men's Clubs. This country offers bright and glorious opportunities to the working man if he only properly avails bimeelf of those piaoed before him. You have a freo and liberal constitution ; you have a climate which enables every man to develop bin full energy ; you have sn almost unlimited demand for your labor, and you have wages which are as remunerative or more remunerative, probably, than in other place on the globe. The working man of this country has everything open to him, and if he chooses to fit himself for if, ihere is no position to which he may not aspire ; but it is his duty, and it is a necessiiy that if he wishes to avail himself of these opportunities, he should prepare himself. (Cheers). A marked feature in all these Australasian colonies is the desire and anxiety evinced by all classes to encourage education, and most happy it is that it should be so, because while great privileges are offered to you, while every office in the country is open to you, it is necessary tbat those who hope to avail themselves of such opportunities should be prepared to perform the duties which would be involved. We see in all directions schools arising, and a frea and a liberal education is offered to every child in the country. We see public libraries, mechanics' institutes, and athenaeums springing up in all parts of tbe country. These are all valuable and useful in their way. They enable tbe working man in bis leisure hours to improve tbose days wbich he spent at school, days which, unfortunately, are generally too short, because in a country where every one has to make his own way, tbe time during which a child can be left at school is usually so abort that be has literally only been able to learn how to learn. (Cheers.) In all instances, even when a man has gone through the whole system of the education of tbe upper classes in England; when he has gone through the private school, then tbe public school, aod then the college, his real acquisition of knowledge begins alter he has left bis college. (Applause.) It is by keeping up the small stock of knowledge that you havo laid up in early days tbat you are able to master the various questions which must come before the country. Gentlemen, all these menus of education ere valuable — most valuable in their way — but it always appeared to me that there was one branch of education which was wanting, that ie, the moral and social training of the working men of the colonies, and I believe that if these clubs are properly carried out they wiil be the means of affording tbat education. I do not say, and I do not believe that intoxication is more prevalent in this country than in others; on the contrary, it is, I hold, otherwise, but at tbe same time there can be no doubt tbat there is too much drinking in New Zealand. lam no believer in making a man sober by Act of Parliament. I do not believe in coercion oi that kind ; but I do believe in a kind of coercion •*■— one which, depend upon it, is the most effectual', and that ia the coercion of example and the opinion of your neighbors. (Loud cheers.) If these clubs are instituted witb the determination of makiog them — if I may so term it — schools where men oan learn good manners, and where they know thst if they exceed in any degree in the way of drioking they will be looked down upon and condemned by their fellow-chlbmeD, tbey will, I am confident, have more effect in stopping excessive drinking thau any other means. (Cheers ) It is the nature of man to require relaxation and amusement, and we all know that the working man, espeoially the young working man who is not married, and has not a home, finds that the lodgings he occupies are not, generally speaking, of a

very tempting and comfortable character. He wants ie his leisure hours some place where he can go and find relaxation. He may in the fine weather walk about with his friends, but when tho wet and cold weather comes on he is generally tempted to visit tbe publichouse. He may go there without tbe slightest inclination or wish to drink, but at the same time he feels that he is called upon to have something for what is called " tbe good of tbe house." Well, his neighbor does the same, and so it goea on from hour to hour and day to day; and a man who begins tbat course without any intention or wish to exceed, too often falls into temptation and becomes a drunkard. All tbia danger is removed in one of these clubs. No man is obliged to call for anythiog " for tbe good of the house." Tha bouse is his own as much as it is any* body else's. He can come to bis club, enjoy himself, talk to his neighbor, he can play bis game of draughts, billiards, or bagatelle, and go away without haviog anybody to thank, aod without calling for anthing unless he chooses. I thick that this, together with creating an esprit de corps among members of the club, will be the surest und most certain way of "scotching" tbat most detestable vice of drinking. Remember that the working man in thiaoountry does not expect to remain alwayß a working man. There is no ooe in this colony who is thoroughly sober, honest, and straightforward, wih a bead upon his shoulders, who may not look forward to be some day or the other an employer of labor instead of a laborer himself. Look, I may say, at all the richest men in this colony, and ask how have they made their wealthi Did they bring it out with them ? No. It bas ail resulted from their own energy and perseverance and their own thrift. This, instead of making working men jealous of the benefits which theae their neighbors have derived; ought rather to act as an iucentive to go and do likewise. Eemember at all times that labor and capital are very much like the Siamese twins, bound together by an indissoluble tie. If you cut that tie, not one but both will linger and perish. Labor without capital is nothing ; capital without labor cannot improve itself. Therefore I trust that many of those feelings whuh have been engendered in other countries of antagonism and envy of lai or towards capital, may not exiatin this country. (Applause). You are more favored- here than we are in the old country, where from -the nature of things the laboring man haß not the same opportunity of rising that you have. Whenever you feel any little inclination to envy your rich neighbors think rather that it only requires that you should .thoroughly exert yourself to take the same place which they have obtained. (Applause). I am glad to hear that already the members of the club have so far iooreased tbat they bave been obliged to seek new premises. I see that you are now 400 in number and I hear tbe members are increasing from week to week. I trust tbat this may long continue. I wish you every prosperity and success, and I hope that some of the objects whioh I have shadowed forth may result from the iQJtituiton of | his club. (Loud cheers). 1 congratulate you upon the mode in which you have chosen in the first instance to open these rooms ; and I trust tbat it may be only a prelude to future and larger exhibitions. Gentlemen, I declare this exhibition now open. (Renewed cheering).