The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 1884. THE UNEMPLOYED QUESTION.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 30, 3 January 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 1884. THE UNEMPLOYED QUESTION.

It would appear that a great stir has lately been made in Dunedin with respect to the “ scarcity of work ” in that district, and that no less a personage than Vincent Pyke, Esq., figured as leader in the agitation for obtaining from the Government employment for those “ anxious to obtain it.” Had the main object been the amelioration of distress, we would feel pleased to support the agitation ; but it is so palpable that the whole movement is Buch a clumsy political dodge that no disinterested parties can be expected to complacently countenance the proceedings. What Vincent Pyke and his fellow Otago professional politicians require is the construction of the proposed Central Bailway through their province, and it matters not to them what kind of subterfuge they adopt to secure the carrying out of the object they have in view. But, what an effeminate reason for putting a most expensive line in hand is that which induces the cry, “ Give work to the unemployed!" The astute Pyke knows well enough that the majority of the so-called “ unemployed ” who have been fermenting a little excitement in Dunedin would not put themselves much out of the way to “ earn an honest livelihood ” — that they would not accept such wages as the | Government can afford to offer, — I that, in fact, the congregation

who lounge around the " Mom*, i ment ” in Princess Street, Dunedin, i would not put their pipes out • to do a “ job ’’ except at an extra- , vagant rate of wages ; nevertheless, , the restless Pyke must' have a grievance, and the “ unemployed ” is the best trump card for Vincent and his fellow political professionals to, play to secure-—if possible —a large expenditure of mouey in the great centre of all their glories. We should think that, after having signally failed so many times in bringing his schemes to a successful issue, Mr. Vincent P yke—together with others “of that ilk - cannot have many trump cards to pi ay, and it is certainly grasping at a , straw—making a last frantic effort to win—when the old cry of “ thu unemployed ” is brought into requisition to effect a purpose which cannot but be deemed a “ forlorn hope.” There is no doubt that much distress exists in some parts of this Colony—particularly in Dunedin—at the present time; but the trouble is not felt by those pavement-hangers-on who create the most noise when a little excitement is got up. The sufferers who have to struggle in poverty's grasp are, we regret to say, people of some refinement, —they are not adapted for navvy work, and live principally on hope until their hearts become sick and they feel acutely the degradation their reduced circumstances have been the means of placing them in. Those are the kind of people our fellowcolonists should practically express their sympathy for, and not the blatant skulk who would expose his miserable frame in a public place, and shout “Three cheers for Vincent Pyke!" It will not do, Messrs. Pyke and worthy political associates I Otago has had one of the lion’s shares of public money spent in the rugged Province, and there is no show of reason why the North Island should always be made to suffer, for the advancement of the interests of the sphere in which the Pyke gathering shines so very brightly, fortunately, the Hon. the Minister for Public Works ' paid Otago a visit lately, and he has too much good sense, we think, to be i caught by the bait of a Pyke, the ’ “ poetic” ideas of a Bracken, or the bombast of a Pish. The cry of the ( unemployed would not be heard, we , opine, were it not that rough human nature revels in a Ettle boisterous [ excitement, and a pat on the back by i so great a man as Vincent Pyke ; would, probably, have the influence of driving a street adornment or gutter i lark almost frantic. It will not do, ’ gentle honorarium recipients! The cry of distress has not the ring of the ' true metal, and we take it that if • there were nothing to be gained, ' politically, by bolstering up the appeal for “ work ” —or rather big wages and light employment—very little would be heard from professional politicians asto the miseries of the poor. In many parts of this Colony a difficulty is experienced in getting suitable men to do harvest and other heavy work—even at a high rate of wages ; consequently, we can arrive at no other conclusion than that the large muster of “ unemployed ” in Dunedin is the outcome of the wretched mess made in the carrying out of the details of the emigration movement at Home. Many of the men who have raised a clamor are, it may safely be presumed, not to the manner born—so far as hard labor is concerned—and adopt the role of a “ soldier looking for a day’s work and praying to God he may not find it.” Let it not, however, be supposed that we contend there are no good men out ' of employment in Dunedin; but [ we confidently assert that the agitation lately got up on behalf of the “working men” is more a political move than any worthy action stimulated by the charitable feelings of the leading ranters of Otago.