The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 23 November 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1880.

There are signs of brightness beyond t the gloom by which our trade is still enveloped. The ranks of the unemployed are being thinned, gradually but surely, and, wo trust, permanently. Those who were otiered and wisely accepted employment upon public works until something better turned up, are gradually deserting those works, and exchanging a hand-to-mouth wage . for remuneration less like a poor-house allowance and more in accord with what men have a right to expect in a young and undevelopedcolony. Scarcely a week passes but we are reminded that this process is continuing. When the last session had nearly close 4 tho outlook was so black that ParJjjiQiiQnp almost unanimously voted a sum of L 75,000 to enable the Government to absorb the " unemployed" upon public ■works. It was then thought not improbable that the amount of legitimate employment for our laborers, and even our artisans, would so decrease that such a provision was absolutely necessary. It is consoling that the auguries even of observant and far-seeing men have so far proved incorrect that instead of increasing, the unemployed have decreased. Not a few of them have been able to say to the Government, " "We thank you for your charitable aid, but we now have an op{)oiiunity of working where we are really required, and where we get paid fairly for what we do," The Government have at such times felt relieved of a grave responsibility, and have mentally added another few thousands to the surplus with which they intend to surprise Parliament next session. But there is more to be thankful for in the gradual desertion of the charitable aid public works by the unemployed than the mere relief to the unemployed and the public exchequer. Where do these men find more congenial employment 1 Theangwer is,plainly, "In industries, the carrying on of which are indications of the returning health of the Colony." ' The cry, " Whither shall we fly V was quickly followed by a stampede to what were deserted as effete goldfields. Necessitous times have grievously weighed our laboring popiiJution down, but necessity has proved to be an invaluable castigator. Our fields were still pregnant with gold, and would never have been abandoned but that miners were enticed away from them by the blandishments of the ' Public Works Policy. For years they «ud thousands of others have been paid out of borrowed money. If during this time a man was oift of employment, he was set down as a " ne'er-do-well." But • jperforce the borrowing policy was :

brought to a close for a season, * jand public works were ax-rested witli a" suddenness that swamped the labor market. The working men of the Colony were like fish that had been left in too shallow water. The almost total cessation of public works, added to financial disasters without the Colony arid r a cyclic depression in trade, precipitated the Colony into a-condition of-commer-cial stagnation unprecedented, in her history. Natural advantages, agricultural, pastoral, and mineral were our only -solvation.- - Of< course the - labor that had been diyei - tec!:frojn its.legitimate channels; together-with-that - with which the Colony liad. . been flooded during a period of artificial activity, could not be absorFecTln a day. That it bids fair to be absorbed; within the space' of little more than a year from the commencement of its redundancy is a matter for congratulation. Nothing but robust vitality could have withstood so well such a terrible blow. A period of convalescence has begun. Not only should wp feel gratified, on this account, but because the Colony has proved itself to be possessed of so much stamina. If the Colony should profit by the lesson to be deduced from its adversity, it will not be long before it will make up its lpsses, Our past experience points to the necessity for an entire cessation for a season of assisted immigration in the case of the working classes. If working men of the 014 Country elect to pay the expenses of their transport tp the Colony we cannot stone'them away from our shores. But the well-taxed working classes should not be compelled to conrribute their hardly-earned njoney to support immigration that would only reduce their work and wages, When the time comes for the resumption of immigration, care must be taken that it is surrounded by safeguards against the flooding of the Colony with any particular class or classes. Indiscriminate immigration has been calamitous, colonists have paid the passages of men with borrowed money, who have been supported out of borrowed money. In future," if we would avoid a repetition of the evils from which we fyave so seriously suffered, we must establish the immigration policy upon a systematic basis. We must not permit the swamping of the labor market by shiploads of men regardless of whether they are wanted here or not. Such a course could only j end in the transference of pauperism from the Old Country to the Colony. We are hopeful for the future, if care be only taken t® thus profit from the lesspnfa of the past. Old goldfields are being fanned into renewed life, new goldfields are opening up as if by magic, and pur colonial industries are increasing in number and ijnpoi'tonpe, These means will soon satisfactorily adjust t]ie equilibrium of our labor market and settle our " unemployed " difficulty. If, added to these favorable circumstances, genuinely liberal land laws are estab lished —laws that will enable working men to acquire, not inferior and remote land, but good and accessible land, at pi-ices within the capacity pf their purees—we may expect, not only the relieving of the labor market, but the substantial prosperity of thousands of those who came to the Colony in expectation of being able to provide for their large and growing families by settling upon the lands of the Colony. The question " What are we to do with our boys V would then be solved, as well as that of " What are we to do with our men V' We might show our wisdom by making our boys tradesmen, but we should also be prepared for a sure livelihood for them, and our givls too, should every thing else fail.