THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 59

THE WEEK.

11 Saaqma altsd nutor*, »Jlo4 upleolli dlilt."— Ja»»«ii, "Ossd unit vi cood nui moit ««■ Jola." — F«»».

P^wellers in the Dominion , have reason to congratulate themselves , The.Heat WtTeNipon Jiving in > " :land ' In tUe where, "whatever, ' may be ' ComniOHwealtli. the deficiencies of climate, " they are not subjected to^ the worse than inconvenience of having to labour and toil when the weatherg lass records a temperature of over a' hundred in the. shade, shade readings reached in Melbourne^ in Adelaide.; 'and in-- other. -Parts' of Victoria and" , South Australia "within the" last "Week were'_ such' as^ to fender .existence' almost; tinV6arable " and-. ..continuous, work quite out "SVhenever the rgkss -'.goes ;?up}ii^y er; .the hundred degrees ia the * stiad^Jsthe heat causes great inconvenience « to^this- average i individual; hut when, as has" :been the | case-, in MelbeTirnj^ and Adei^idg j»cauibju

the temperature stands at 106, with occjiv -sion sprints up to 112, 114 — and in thfc back-blocks - even higher shade readingfc iiave been recorded, — then the incone venjenoe'' is . heightened until it evolved into"' -positive -suffering. Melbourne- hat' now .. been* in the 'grip of the heat fien J ' for fiye+-or six days,- and the" dwellers is ' that city must"* by this time be reduced' to -a pitiable- pbndition. ." TJncter these' cir- - cumstarices -sleeping indoors is out of tvs ' question-, and fevan -the "resort -to the water •BidVand;.op£n spaces in the parks gives little, real' s relief. At such* seasons the ' mortality." amongst little children and " elderly people is^yery great/ and cases of heat . apoplexy are numerous. It is an experience which calls -for no little heroism -' and the display of much fortitude, * for the excessive" heat puts out of gear the ordinary -routine, of life. Day after day men bravely face" the duties oftheir ordinary avocations, despite a series ' of sleepless, eights and the pain of dis"- * organised- digestions due to inability to take proper food and the seeming neces- v sifcv of frequently- indulging in iced drinka and "cooling beverages of' all kinds. ' Thi< brief glande" at • the* conditions of life i« Australia, 1 when' a heat wave is Taging " should. J^ye- cause for much' thankfulness ~ that th&'hibder ate amount °f heat "whicli: we"tiave.beer£. experiencing, in Otago lately. is tempered ,witli; delightfully^ cool nights and occasional; dull days. • Here' the hob days are enjoyable and entail no absolute inconvenience, ■ in marked contrast- to .Australian; weather conditions, t Thus, while we heartily, sympathise wij;h ouu Australian neighbours, there remains «T feeling of satisfaction that bur lives ara lived amid a more satisfactory environ< ment. EJspecially is this the case in vie\* of Mr Wragge's . warning that the Com< monwealth is on the eve of anothes drought cycle, which is to continue wittf . increasing severity right up to 1912. Notwithstanding some amount of fore* boding, v ,on account of dry, Prot»eeti»r~ weather, the harvesVprosa Goad Humst. ' pects throughout Otago promise exceedingly well. In some parts of Canterbury, especially, - north of Christchurch, the 'fain has been scarcely sufficient to . ensure the grain being of as good quality as usual;, bufi even in those districts the recent ramfa l^ has much improveoSthe condition of thing* in regard to feed for sheep and cattl» 4 , Bight through Otago and* Southland th< prospect is for capital yields both"' of wheat! and .oats and a very early harvest* Already, from the north samples of th« '.new /grain are. , on "the market; in theTimarufand- pamaru ; '.disiriGts harvestinaf operations 'are going on." apace, and in' many^ parts -of the Taieri cutting is pro--ceedi&'gsmerely. Giveru.good weather foa the- next ' few VeeKs and* the crops ofl . ) wheat and oats should be got in in capital condition. Thus the damage and> disapoointment. which too often attends *it late harvest will be 1 altogether avoided.* farmers generally should dp well out of the" harvest' this year, as. prices are good,, especially ,f or ■ wheat, and there/ does nob appear much fear' of tEeir receding to any ' extent. At the same time it has to be borne in mind that the farmer is more than any other man dependent upon thej weather, and' there is always the saa possibility tEat his most sanguine hopes; may he suddenly dashed -to the ground,, ■and instead of a fair return for his patientf labour and indomitable perseverance los« may stare him in 'the face. Happily, however, this year, indications point inj quite- the other direction, - and ( it is ttf be hoped that the most sanguine expecta* tions of a - good .'yield and of ' a good harvest^ may he more than realised.

The cry of the unemployed is now no. longer heard in the land; The Scarcity on the contrary the swing. of Labour. of the pendulum is in the

opposite direction. On every hand are heard _ complaints, that there ' is not enough labour available to meet the need of the moment. -Even, ia farming operations,- where labour has to so great an extent been superseded by ! machinery, tHere is often a difficulty - in( ! getting the- right kind of labour at' the time when it is most needed. In tha past this has been i popularly set dowiX to the .superior attractions of city life,, which continually drains the country oi its -young . blood. . Now, however, cornea the complaint from factory managers and manufacturers generally that their operations are restricted owing to the impose sibility of obtaining a proper complement of hands ; and especially does this apply; to female. labour. We are familiar witi^ the difficulty of- securing domestic servants; indeed, mistresses in despair -haver lamented the fact that' all the girls nowadays* prefer the freer life of the factors' to the confinements and longer duration of household service. Apparently now, i however, the attractions of the,,- factory are beginning to dim, and various treasons are assigned for this changed attitude ont | the part of the New Zealand girl. Ceri ! taihly typewriting is as much - a steps higher in the social,' scale as is working at a factory in advance of domestic, ser< vice';' but, even .taking into consideration the great increase of late years in the numbet of lady typewriters, this is scarcely suffi* cieut for the deficiency in the applicant* for factory work. Nor is tEere any appreciable increase -in the number of girls who* prefer to stay at home and take theiff ease rather * than ,go to. wpnEs:. Is. it a> characteristic of the' New Zealand young lady that she prefers to be /self-supporting ' jather than depending upon her parents for pin money' and dress allowance? Indeed,' iti is "often a' matter! of, comment that. -many \ydung. ladies whose social, position and the incomes of whose parent") would- surely entitle them to- live- livr-a of ease,- of their own. - .choice eater the" ranks of the toilers an 3 earn their, daib*'" bread. Thus ,to the .question, "Whero .are- the. girls?" not one, but many answers . may be Tetunied. Th© moat obyious solution of the problem is that owing to tin decrease in the birth rate girls are not Xazthcominji, in numbers sufficient to coo*-

witli the increasing demand lor labour. Another factor Is that- with the- improved conditions o£ labour, snok as shorter hours and tha disinclination, to work, overtime, it takes a> larger staff to cope with the same amount of work, added to which tha tendency ©£ labour at 'the present time- is-- to do- ss. little aa possible foe tb* greatest amonnfe o£ money. A while back, the Socialistic- section?, of the community was talking loudly of ' a seven. and_.ev.en a six hours' day in place of the present eight hours' day, in order that there should be no unemployedy and that th© -work of the world might be made , to- go round. Now- the tendency saenis to be aE •in the- other directionAnd, failing any marked increase in the birth rate, or the introduction* by the Government o£ some attractive system o£ assisted; immigration-, there appears to be- no other remedy £oe theadmitted sh"oriagel of female labour :thatt the lengthening of the working, day^ And 1 to- talk, oi a., nine houi's 1 day would be like a red rag, to * bull 1 , so- far as the Socialists- are concerned- But, after, all, the complaint? oi the,- factory "managers does bat affond anotßer instance, dt the straits which the-.-d6g-in-ths-iHaageE,'poKcy- of the New Zealand labour man, if he- hadi afl. Ms.' own 1 , way,, would speedllX bringabout mr the iadiistriat woelSj; » ' - - , -. # '