THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, January 21, 1843.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 46, 21 January 1843, Page 182

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, January 21, 1843.

Lea journaux deriennent plus necessaire* a mesure que lei hommes aont plu» egaux, et I' indiridoaliame plus a eraindre. Cc serait diminuer leur importance que de croire qu' Us ne lervent qu' a garantir lfc liberty : ila msintiennent U civilisation. D* TocancTiLLa. De la Democratic en Amerique, tome 4, p. 220. Journal* become more necessary aa men become more equal, and individualiim more to be feared. It would be to underrate their importance to suppose that they serve only to aecure liberty : they maintain civilisation. Dx TocaVEyuu. Of Democracy in America, vol. 4, p. 320. On Monday morning all the men employed by the Company in making roads, bridges, drains, &c, assembled, with one or two exceptions, and went in a body to Captain Wakefield. Some of them stated j that they had been informed that their wages were to be lowered ; others (and they were eventually joined in this by the rest) required that their wages should be restored to the price given for labour in the earliest days of the colony, when labour was scarce.

Captain Wakefield met them near the Company's Stores, and conversed with those who came forward as spokesmen in the hearing of the whole party. They had an idea, it seemed, that they should improve their situation by leaving this and going to Sydney or Western Australia ; and had a scheme to procure assistance to enable them to re-emigrate, but their views on the subject were not very clear. Captain Wakefield pointed out to them that it would be very unwise to transfer themselves to any place of which they knew nothing either as to the price of provisions or the price of labour, its abundance or its scarcity. They were as free as air to go wherever they choose, and he could have no objection to their taking any steps by which they were likely to better themselves ; but he would advise them, at all events, before they committed themselves in so important a matter, to send two of their number to any place they might have in view, who might report to them upon the state of things there, so that they might be able to judge whether they were likely to benefit themselves by removal or not. One of them stated that he could not live upon the wages he now had and his rations, which Captain Wakefield clearly proved to be false, by going through, item by item, the price of the various necessaries of life which he would require, and the case was too plain to admit of reply. After leaving Captain Wakefield, without, of course, having obtained the rise which they required, they adjourned to an open place, at present a brickfield, and there held a meeting, at which some rather strong language was used, and various resolutions passed, the most important one being that they should send a memorial to Governor Gipps, requesting him to send a vessel for them. On Tupsday morning they again assembled, and came to Captain Wakefield to repeat the demand for a rise of wages. Captain Wakefield met them as before, and, in the most temperate manner, discussed the question with them. He repeated his advice (^Monday ; told them that it was very possible they might find some other place where, for a time, wages might be higher than they were here ; and that for those of them who looked only at to-day, and were content to- wander about seeking the highest wages that could for the time be obtained in any market, it might be well to leave this settlement, but for those amongst them who were anxious to settle themselves comfortably, and who had families to bring up, and would be glad to get some land which they could call their own, and so eventually raise themselves above the condition which necessitated working for wages at all — for such of them, he doubted whether they would better themselves by any change. They thanked him for the kind manner in which he had met them, and separated. On Wednesday morning the whole of them, without exception, we believe, returned to their work. The whole of the affair went off perfectly quietly and peaceably ; there was not the slightest disturbance, nor, apparently, the slightest apprehension of any. From the regularity with which the walking from the town to the Port and back again was managed, it appeared to us that there were some amongst the number who did not find themselves in a procession got up for some such purpose for the first time. A memorial has, we understand, been sent by some person going to Sydney in the Union, addressed to the Directors of some Western Australian Company, requesting assistance to enable them to remove to Western Australia. It is not necessary to say much upon the subject of this demonstration. One of those miscalculations which cannot well be prevented has placed the New Zealand Company in such a position as to oblige them almost to send out labour without sufficient respect to the amount of capital also cmi- ! grating. It is true that the employment j which they give in the way of public works of vatious sorts, acts as a certain preventive*

4,0 distress arising from this want of correspondence between these two elements ; but it is a wasteful mode of doing it, and it is to be regretted that it is necessary to H adopt so expensive a remedy as that of employing mechanics and journeymen .of various trades in labour to which they are unaccustomed, which they do not understand, and which their strength, in many instances, is not sufficient to rllow of their doing a moderate day's work at. It would have been better for us, at least, however it might be for themselves, that thesV should have stayed at home until the demand of the private labour market had increased ; unless, indeed, the Company intended always to keep, as it were, a supply on hand, whom they would employ themselves until they were required by others; and, with such a view, the persons sent out should have been in far larger -proportion simply labouring men. All this, however, is lookup at the matter as it applies to the capitalists and landowners, and as it may be made a good example to prevent similar mismanagement in future : but, as regards the men themselves, the question requires treating in a far different manner. Is it or is it not probable that, by removing, they will generally and permanently better their condition ? This is the real question for them to decide upon. We feel, s ourselves, very little doubt in answering that it is not probable. That, if 150 men were to leave this place to-morrow, none of them would permanently better their condition, we do not mean to say ; for, in all changes of this sort, nothing can be more unaccountable than the accidents which occur to individuals both for the better and for the worse. But, speaking generally, to what country are such a mass of men to go, where they will not be liable to precisely the same fall in the price of labour as has taken place here ? What place could prosper, what capitalists could stand out against it, if the price did not so fall? Where is that-happy land where the labour » market in general, or in any particular business, does not get overstocked at times, and where capital and labour always keep their due balance ? Doubtless, wages may be higher at other places now : but for how longj And this leads us to another sort of question — To what place will they go where they shall insure themselves higher wages and also permanent employment ? Where will they find present employment at high wages, and, when capital shall decrease and labour be too plentiful, an assurance of a stand-by of fourteen shillings a- week and rations ? This is the view of the matter 1 which it becomes them to take ; not whether, at the present moment, at any given place, higher wages are given than are now given here. '