The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, MAY 31, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 972, 31 May 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, MAY 31, 1879.

Tltli urtitiiployed ..f Oamaru have announced their intention i>f inter viewing the Minister for Public Works when he nest makes fits appearance in Uaniant. This u »i u ' te T,,w frequently there 13 so much unreasonableness about re»'i«eata of the unemployed that they fail signally in securing that which they seek. They become sour in temper and warped in judgment. If they hold a meeting- they inveigh against ■those who occupy the positions of cmplovers because they wilt ttot trive them «'.riipf"ymtnir, and thai- »•« tU-ir " (v " tonus. Thry never -jive them.-ftve.* time to think, or they are t<»> ignorant of even the rudimentary laws that regulate capital and labor to understand, that people will always be ready to employ labor when they can do so profitably. If employers of labor reduce the number of their hands, or refuse to take on others, it may be taken for granted that their business has fatten otF, so as ts> necessitate the former,, or has not increased so as to warrant the latter, course. Few wilt be found who are not ready to admit that they are sympathetic with the working man in his extremity. That lie should he reduced to the too often fruitless expedient of begging as welt as working in order that he may obtain the necessaries of life for himself and perhaps a large -family, everybody deplores ; but it is difficult to concert measures to mend such a state of things. If workmen looked beneath the surface, they would see that they are not the only clas3 that sutFer during, "hard times." Employers of labor have as much as they can do to retain their properties, because of the occurrence of some untoward event that prevents them from obtaining remnnera- ' tive prices in the markets which have hitherto been favorable to theiroperations. During such times as these, which are periodic the commercial world over, the only course left open is to be frugal and do the best to worry through. These are the days of " cutting and contriving/' not only for working men, but for employers of labor and everybody else. Working men foolishly insist upon receiving the same wages whether times are bad or good. A lit. Ic consideration will convince them that this is wrong. An employer of labor might not be able to pay the rate demanded, because, if he did, lie would inevitably sutler a 1033, which would affect his workmen as well as himself ; but he might be able to go within a trifle of it, ajid it is better for all that workmen should accept hi 3 terms under such .ckctjastances than that

they should strike or bring about a lock-out. It may be urged that employers of labour might take advantage of the yielding disposition of their workmen to impose upon them. If working meu were only more observant than they, arc, they would be able to discriminate between standing up for their rights and acting injuriously to themselves. Supposing that the agitators of Christchurch. who have talked so nuich nonsense and are apparently banded t<>gether for the purpose of doing each other as much harm as possible under the circumstances, only looked around them, read the public journals, did not turn a deaf ear to the .iti.riw of threatening disaster, which, if realised, would make matters worse than t'tu-v arc now for us all, they would not have acted so irrati' >nally. For instance, we will glance at the position of grain growers. They are not able to realise more than three-fom-tha of a paying price for their irraiii. and it the wages insisted upon by farm laborers are too high to enable growers to realise a small profit as their wages, they must cease to cultivate no more than they can manage without exterior aid, and the laborer is the worse for this, as well as the fanner. The unemployed of Oamaru have acted wisely ill {lotunnining to draw the Hon. 3lr. Macaiulrew's attention to the public works -which ! it is the intention of the Government to carry out here. It is the duty of the Government to take advantage of the present state of the labor market to fulfil their promises. The good people of Christchurch lately made themselves quite ill by the exercise of a compassionate regard for the health of the |Kx>r M.H.K.'s, who yearly arc compelled to .h[«;ihl several months in Wellington. They suggested. in public meeting assembled, that they should come down to Christchurch, where the people would take care of them ami do their best to relieve them of aiiv distressing maladies that had rendered their Parliamentary life so unpleasant in tiie past, and of anything else, for that matter. The latest evidence of regard for their suffering fellow creatures by the people or Christchurch is that of suggesting a means whereby the unemployed may be delivered out of their ditllculty. They knew that the Government were not troubled with a redundancy of capital; that they had even neglected to embark in public works for which money has been voted because they are impecunious, or somethin.' eUe: but the Christchurch people thought of the idea of suggesting that work should be provided for these su tic-ring unemployed men of Christchurch by funning one of the belts of the city. The Council, the working men, and the people were unanimous that the Government should be informed that the Council would get this work .lone if they wouid grant it a pound-tor-pouml subsidy for the purpose. They did not, of course, want the work done, any more than they wanted to receive advantage from the transference of the scat of from Wellington to ChristThey merely wanted to alibrd the unemployed the means of providing bread ami butter lvr themselves and families. The saerilicc of the people of Christchurch in this matter would be transcendent. .Such philanthropy deserves to be encouraged—not to be stitied : and yet v/e are suspicious that, not having heard that the Government have fallen in with the suggestion, stilled it will be. We wonder if

j oar Municipal Council would have j thr.iiirht of the idea of asking the Coven. - j ir,Liit to give them a pound for every I ji spent on the waterworks, so that they might be enabled to employ the unemployed of Oainaru upon those works 7 Not they. The fountain of such humane ideas is Christchureh, and its water.- have not flowed so far south r.s this. A writer in the Tiinara Herald advocates the institution of a winter course of lectures on such scientific subjects as chemistry and astronomy. We would recommend the idea to the Mechanics' Institute Committee. There are those in Oamaru who are capable of giving interesting and instructive lectin'' s oil .such subjects, ami such lectures might be alternated with en-tert-.ii'.ments of a lighter character. In a remote country district like this, where we arc thankful to secure for our children the knowledge of the three r's in our public schools, it would be a good idea to give such lectures and admit school children at a price that would just pay expenses. Such a course would popularise the institution, which has languished because of the apathy of the public towards it. We arc informed that a complete change i\; about to be made in the uniforms of the whole ritle companies of the North Otago battalion of Volunteers. The substantial but uufoMitrly-likegrey uniforms are to give place to scarlet tunics, blue trousers, helmets, and black patent-leather accoutrements. The grey uniform was originally decided upon by the Government, in order to bestow some amount of support upon the Nelson Woollen Factory, which was at the time in its infancy, and from which it was rendered necessary U> obtain the tweed. While the withdrawal of so large an amount of support from a colonial industry is to be regretted, it is satisfactory to learn that another of our factories will probably reap the benefit of supplying at least one-half of the cloth necessary for the new uniforms, which will also be made in the Colony. In accordance with the promise given to the I'ire Brigade, the Municipal Council is having a neat structure erected at the rear of the Council Chambers for the accommodation of the engine and other plant. Owners of sheep ought to be reminded that under the "Sheep Act, IS7S," the annual returns are due during the month of June, instead of September, as was previously the case. The return, which is to be made to the Chief Inspector, through the Inspector of the sub-division of the sheep district, is of all sheep over three months old owned on the 31st of May and the penalty for non-compliance does not exceed L 2'>. Sheep owners in the Oamaru subdivision of the Otago District who have not received forms of return can be supplied by applying to the Inspector for the Oamaru sub-division. Despite the unfavorable weather, the High ! School Cadets turned out remarkably well for their usual weekly parade yesterday afternoon, 45 rank and file being present under Captain Poattie. The boys were drilled without arms or accoutrements, and all the movements were done in double time, to the evident delight of the lads. The Education Board, at its meeting on Thursday, accepted the tender of Mr. John Bain for closets at the Korth School, the amount being £147 10s. An application from the Waiareka Committee for £ls, to assist in putting the teacher's residence in good repair, was referred to the Inspector. ,

At a meeting of the Education Board, held on Thursday, a report by the Finance Committee was brought up and adopted, recommeding, amongst other things, that a new building should be provided in the Awainoko district, but that the Inspector of Buildings be instructed to report upon the advisability, or otherwise of converting the whole of the present building into a residence. The Education Board have formally confirmed the appointments of Mr. J. Lindsay as head master of the North School, Mr. Flood as second master of the South School, and Mr. A. Anderson as a teacher at the Awamoko School. The Board also accepted the resignations of Mr. D. Todd, second master of the North School, and Mr. E. Piper, head master of the Teaneraki School. Mr. Charles R. Drysdale, writing to the London Eclio upon statistics for the Australian Colonies, draws a striking comparison between the relative birth and death rates of England and New Zealand. After showing how much this Colony is in advance of the Mother Country, the writer eaya " What, then, is the reason for this extraordinary healthiness of New Zealand? It resides greatly in the fact, disclosed in an account given by one of your contemporaries, of the rate of wages given in that happy Colony. In New Zealand, it seems, the lowest rate of agricultural wages is at present S:: a day of eight hours woyk, in a country where wheat sells at 4s the bushel, and butchers' meat is about 4d the pound. There is now no mystery in the matter, since we know at Home that the mortality of the children of our richer classes (Ansell) is only S per cent, in the first year of life, whilst as much as 30 per cent, among the children of the poor in our large towns die in their first year. And, again, the average age at death among oup well-to=do classes is found to be about 55, whilst it is only 35 among the working classes, who are often too hardworked and but ill-fed. The moral I wljiild draw from the comparative statistics of New Zealand and England is as follows ; —ln order to have a low death rate there must be a very slight pressure of population on food supplies. This is accomplished in New Zealand by the acquisition of immense tracts of fertile land, capable of raising wheat and other products with little labor. In Europe, if we wish to have such a low death rate, we must consent to have such a very low birth rate as to enable our population to press as slightly on the powers of the soil, and we shall never have true happiness until this time arrives," Mr. George Robinson notifies that he will pay Waimate a professional visit on Monday next.