The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1873.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5239, 8 January 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1873.

Before any changes of magnitude are attempted in New Zealand it behoves those entrusted to legislate for the people to look well to the experiences of other countries. The present Ministry describes itself as ultra-democratic, and anything which they may endeavor to effect will doubtless be in the direction of assimilating the institutions of this country to those of the Great Republic. The files of American papers to hand by the last mail show a state of things far from desirable. From the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast there comes a cry of distress from the working classes. The wages paid for, all kinds labor in the United States are grossly inadequate, hardly sufficient to supply a man and his family with the bare necessaries of life. And this too, in a country with boundless resources, where manhood suffrage prevails almost free from any restrictions, and where the land law is so liberal that a man can settle down anywhere on the public estate and acquire land at a dollar and a quarter an acre. No nominated Upper House there representing property thwarts the will of the majority, for as far as political power is concerned the meanest laborer is legally on a level with the wealthiest in the land. Yet despite all this in that country the poor are poorer and rich richer than in downtrodden New Zealand. A South Carolina paper states that the brakemen and other laborers on the railway only earn nine shillings a week, and further says ; “ One of the roads is five months behind with its employes, and all are in arrears, with small prospect of ever catching up. Mechanics are quite as badly off. There is little to do, and that at lower prices than were ever known. Country newspapers can get all the printers they want for their board and lodging during the summer months, and 25c. per 1000 eras for transient work is the usual price outside of Charleston. Agricultural labor is worse paid than in any civilised country. Six dollars a month and a ration costing about 40c. (one and eightpenoe) a week is the price for a full male hand. We saw white men digging post-holes a few weeks ago who were working from 6 a.m. to sundown for 50c. (two shillings) a day, and feeding themselves.” In the Northern States the working classes appear to be in no better condition. It is almost impossible to lift up a newspaper without finding in its columns heartrending particulars of the sufferings endured by the families of clerks, artisans, and laborers through scarcity of work or inadequate pay. This does not appear to be the abnormal state of things either. During the last few years we have noticed that the American journals have teemed with accounts of the poverty and sufferings of the masses. It is customary for loud-mouthed politicians to describe the artizan of aristocratic England as little better than a serf. . It can scarcely be disputed that both the artizan and the laborer are immensely bettor off in New Zealand than their fellowworkers in England ; but the same cannot be said of the industrial classes of the United States, and on this point we extract: the following from the Now York World-. —-“ During the past three months about 300 carpenters left this country for England, and yesterday twenty-five more sailed in the steamship Wisconsin. They are under contract for three years each with building firms in Manchester, at wages equal to 3dol 30c. per day, eight hours to constitute a day’s work, with a half-holiday on Saturdays; Their passage was paid by their employers, but it is to be deducted from their wages in , small'instalments. The carpenters at Manchester are on a strike, and the depression in the building trade here, is said to', bo' so great that several hundred more can be'got to crossthe At- : lantic on the terms offered by the British builders.” There was lately a disagreement in-New York between the cigarmakers and their employers, who

wore also tlio landlords, in many cases, of their workmen. The consequence was that the strikers were not only refused a moderate request for a rise in wages, but wore, turned out of house and

home. The Herald sent a reporter to describe the state of the people, and to ascertain the wages they earned. From his account it appears that an adult in full work was only capable of earning about two shillings a day. The following may be taken as a description of an average family:—“ Seven in number ; four workers, who aggregate 9dola. and lOdols. per week, and being in the rear of the building pay only 9dol. 50c. per month rent, like all the others, in advance. Being asked how they were getting along, the mother, with a babe in her arms, smilingly said, ‘We’re all well.’ ” There is something pathetic in that—“ We’re all well.” Imagine a family of four workers in this colony earning £2 a week, and paying ten shillings out of that for rent, and believing themselves in anything like comfortable circumstances. We are afraid it would be a case for the Benevolent Society. From our American files we could multiply instances of such cases as the foregoing; in fact, from the tenor of the remarks o£ our New York contemporary there was nothing exceptional in the condition of the cigarmakers ; they were quite as well off as others of their class ; but we think we have quoted enough to show that ultrademocratic institutions and the prosperity and happiness of the masses do not necessarily go hand in hand. It is not argued that democracy is responsible altogether for the state of things to which we have alluded; but accompanied with democracy there is a class of agitators who are a curse to any land. The Government of America has been in the hands of a vile stamp of politicians, who have fostered class animosities, aud were regardless of everything but the popular favor of the hour. The consequence*has been that the whole system of government throughout has been corrupt: from the pettiest court in the country to the Senate, and from the tax-collector to the heads of the Treasury department, one vast system of fraud has prevailed. Industry has been paralysed, and the industrial classes are in a worse position than those of France or England. All this has taken place under democracy pure and simple—under the rule of men who promised everything to the masses. Despite the assertions of Sir George Grey aud his immediate followers, New Zealand is a paradise to the worldng man compared with America. A political economist has truly said that it is of much more consequence that the industry of a country should be liberally paid than that the few should make large profits. That this principle has prevailed as extensively in New Zealand as in any country of the world no intelligent reader of history or observer of current events can gainsay.