The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1080, 6 October 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1879.

Tub cry that ha a taen raised by the unemployed has ended in their almost entire absorption on public works. There are still a few of them hanging about the centres of population, but they are not ail bwtrtfitr working men. There are always a number »t ill-used individuals in ever} town, whose wrongs can never be redressed until they to be their own enemies. These lazy ' '"is make common .csius*s with the industrious,. ~cllmeaning working mriit. arid form a by Do means small po>p«rt:on ot what are called unemployed. The wat.l that ■-J forth lately frwn the unemployed masses in the various centres »>f population would hate been almost devoid of j.gnitieance ; had it not been tr.af v. it It it was blewUd the howl of tii>>se whose howling is chronic. It is to ' deplored that discredit should be brought on what might really be a go«>J cause by these meddlesome ne'er-do-wells. ' But there | i; often in the ranks »f '»>«" work- | itt„> men an element of dissatisfaction. The vagabond eleiuent is not the only one [ that is worthy of reprobation. Some men J arc so that they grumble { ."H she slightest pretest. Times get bad, I i''<l v?.;rk gets scare**. bur e.mno,. sutler ii few weeks out of w>>ik i-i a reduction in lb«:ir wages, one of which —•if not both—is a necessary sequel t>) a season of depression. Stteh things will etidurr. we supjwse. until w.;rL:ing men makes, itudyof the fundamental principles : that govern fheir various callings. The railway laborers who. dissatisfied with «sn. Utely "struck for l»s p-r day. at Hamilton, niav have been £>'>**>* laborers, btu they unreasonable. Light shillings a dav for laborers is a handsome tiguroj at any time, and their attempt, when rite (loveroment was s»rcly exercise.l, tn consequence of the condition of ns finances. t>> find work for the unemployed throughout the Colony, to extoit rimie than they were. entitled to, would !i.i> e been fairly met by supplanting them. About a month's idleness would have ti-ught such men the lesson that those that strike are worse otF at the end of a year than tiiose who arc satisfied to allow their wages tc b'J fixed by the law a c f supply and demand. This is how the prices of other commodities are governed, j and labor is just as much a cou.uiodity as sugar and Hour. Why, therefore.-should a laborer attempt to compel people to pay hint just what he thinks he should get. If a storekeeper is not satisfied with the prices offered for any of his wares, he holds them in the hope of being able to realise an advance. Whilst he is holding it " probable that others in a similar trade may be filing the same goods at the prices he refused to accept, and he may eventually be compelled accept the price lie at first refused. He, therefore, loses the profit, however small, that he maj otherwise have been able to make during the period that he held his goods for higher prices.and hasplayed into the hands ot his fellow-tradesmen. It is the same with labor. Its value is just as tluctuating as thai of any other commodity, and, if a laborer, thinking tnat he is better entitled to til the jate of wages he should

receive than the inexorable and unerring law of supply and demand, he may occasionally find himself unemployed for several months at a time. He may view this as a hardship. So it may be. But everybody is in the He usually blames those who used to employ him at a rate in advance of wri.v. ite is offered. He appears to think that the wool-grower is attempting to realise more profit on his wool, or the irrain-tirower moru profit on his grain. Employers of labor can no more affect wa-_'.js. unless on very rare occasions and under exceptional circumstances, than the laborer can. In the one case, if an em- i {.'.oyer of labor attempts to compel his ! men to work for wages less than they are entitled to, there are other employers who will give the fair rate ; for whilst there is any profit to be made out of labor, there will always be found men to employ it. In the other case, if a laborer attempts to compel his employer to pay him more than h<- i.-; entitled to, there are other laborers wh>> will work at a fair rate, for working men compete with each other just as much as employers or tradespeople. : There is no necessity, under ordinary conditions, for working men to complain in a new country like this, where laborers and artisans are a necessity in the development of the country. Hitherto the balanco of supply and demand has been well maintained, and will be so for many years to come. It is only in the Old Country that laborers are trodden under foot, although some of the blatant agitators of " working men's rights " would have had us believe that they never knew what trouble wa3 until they came here. Wo do not believe a word of it, and think it a pity that such men should not have remained where they were, where they would have been lost amongst the multitudes of the indigent, for they have done their best to poison the minds of honest men, and to create a chasm between capital and labor, which fortunately is never difficult iu bridge in a country like ours.