THE LEANING TOWARDS LEISURE.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 65, 28 September 1901, Page 8

THE LEANING TOWARDS LEISURE.

Not Conducive to Progress.

POLITICIANS have, during the session, dangled all sorts of

fads before the noses of the people, ostensibly with a view to testing their appetite. The people, m regard to several measures, have certainly shown that several of the luxuries offered are not to their likmg This matters little, so long as the particular politician gets his special commodity on the market.

They can easily prove to their own satisfaction that they are right, and that the people, who are only capable of judging if they are fit and proper occupants for the benches of the House, are wrong. The worker of New Zealand has demonstrated not uncertainly that he is finding out the placing of the employer on the lower rung of the commercial ladder will eventually topple him off the highei one He does not want the Shops and Offices Act, the amendments of which were to ameliorate him some more, and alienate him further from his employer. There is much doubt if the working of our labour laws have been productive of the freedom that it is alleged we enjoy-

The result-of our added leisure has not been shown yet. The country cannot help but be prosperous in spite of its restrictions and regulations It will be prosperous still, but be sure that it will require radical changes for the continuance of itprosperity. The will of the people, as against the will of the peoples' representatives, must be taken into account, or the result may be, if not disastrous to the country, at least hurtful to the conceit of expenmentary politicians.

If the voice of the people was generally heard, it is easy to believe that they would be content that the next few years be spent in curing the defects and absurdities of existing laws, without the addition of anything new. The people know that added leisure and facilities for extra enjoyment mean decadence They also know that with the daily task as the least consideration, and their leisure as the greatest, they are bidding good-bye to any chance of superiority of attainment they may have imagined themselves to be capable of.

The laboui legislation of the colony is not conducive to independence as between countries, however it may locally level master and man. Extra and unnecessary leisure is as bad for a young country as are the confinement and long hours so much deprecated True, in this country we have laws that give the highest wages to all, irrespective of qualifications, and the exploiting of sundry measures to increase alieady large facilities bodes no good to the general welfare.

The people are fairly satisfied with their legislators, if they could induce them to "go slow" in their experiments Probably, we have enough experiments to keep politicians busy perfecting them and weeding them out to last for a decade The ambitious and energetic ones require a well-earned rest. Let them sit back quietly, and induce the gentlemen who love the lobby and the outside of the House to take a turn on the treadmill of politics.