A WORD TO LABOUR, Go Slow.

Free Lance, Volume VI, Issue 274, 30 September 1905, Page 6

A WORD TO LABOUR, Go Slow.

THE Employers' Federation of New Zealand is evidently concerned about t>he future of commercial undertakings m New Zealand, feeling that the various Acts passed of late years solely m favour of the workers burden their operations and harass progress. A deputation from the Federation waited on the Premier the other day, and extracted from him the admission that industries could not bear much more than they were carrying at the present time. • • * Such an admission, from such a source, has special weight, considering that the experiment of setting the worker on a pedestal and protecting his every act has been largely the result of the Premier's sympathy for the "horny-handed." There is no suggestion m the Premier's words to indicate that the many privileges workers enjoy at the present time will be curtailed,! but there is a distinct warning from the head of the Government to the labour leaders to "go slow." If it is true that, with still larger privileges and powers, the workers of this country would be able to cripple industry m order to temporarily enrich themselves, it is obvious that the story of the killing of the goose that lays the golden eggs might easily be told over again. * * •» It is hard for anyone other than a labour leader to know in what further direction the lot of the worker can be lightened. He will probably, in the near future, be able to< live m a State house, at a low rental, but, at the same time, it must not be forgotten that it is because of the privileges he has obtained, and the wages he is legally able to demand, that the necessity arises for a dimmuoion m house rent. * * * On the other hand, supposing it became possible for the average woiker to reduce his rent by half, he -would scarcely consider it fair for any privilege — the reduction of wages, for instance — to be conceded to the man who enij>loys him Supposing the necessities of life are out of proportion to the wages earned, is it not because the capitalist has been spurred to an ambition for more cash by the demands of the worker for more pay? # • * The worker is necessary to the employer, and vice versa, and it be-

comes increasingly evident that with concessions all on one side the employer is not likely to have any increasing affection for the employed. It is evident that m the future increased demands of labour may have the effect of forcing retrogressive legislation on the country — that is to say, the employers might get a snow. So, when the workers have a good thing they ought not to quarrel with it because it is not the uttermost farthing of their demands * * * If labour conditions are not as perfect as the labour leaders desire, t-ney unight to content themselves with the reflection that no one is likely to 1 get all his heart could wish for, and is likely to lose a good deal of what he has m his eagerness to grasp too' much. The worker of New Zea.land is generally an intelligent thoughtful person who must know that unreasonable demands are likely to cause trouble- which will ultimately fall on himself. It is no earthly use his agitating for high wages when there is no* work to earn them at.