CORRESPONDENCE.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 177, 8 July 1884, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

Wu do not hnld on rod vo«roapon;lbk for tbs opinions cxprosno'l by our oorrcopondvnto.) THE WORKING MAN? WHAT IS HE LIKE. TO the editor. Sir, —During the last few weeks much of the political “ gas ” to which we have been treated has boon addressed to the “ working man.” Therefore, lam led to put the query with which I have headed this letter. We are told that the Liberal party is that of the working man, but while Sir George Grey is hold up as the reigning monarch of that party, Mr. W. K. Chambers is hunted from a meeting of that powerful (?) organization of quasi working men, yclept the “ Working Men’s Political Association t ” of Gisborne. In what respect then does Sir George Grey possess the qualifications of a working man, while the other gentleman I have mentioned does not ? Referring to the state of the working man in our own end of the colony, the Auckland correspondent of the Daily Times eayg;—“ The latest sensation in Auckland has been the cry of “ the unemployed.” Perhaps nothing could more fully show the character of the agitation than the fact that the advertisements in the papers convening the meetings were anonymous, as if those engaged in the matter were ashamed of their own handiwork. Scarcely a local man was to be seen in the crowd, the movers being cither late arrivals from the South or Australia. They did not impress one as being in social distress, or with starving families as, comfortably dressed, with well-filled dhudeens in their cheeks, they joked and chaffed around the City Council Chambers. Among the gathering were one or two sealawyers, who are continually looking for work but praying to Providence in their heart of hearts they may never find it. Some of the leaders were pleased, in their interview with the Mayor, not only to define the rate of pay they would accept “ for the present,” but the class of work, which must be that to which they were accustomed, or “ which they might regard as reasonable.” Both the city authorities and city contractors offered work which would tide them over the present juncture, but not above one-third of the 134 men who put their names down as unemployed would accept it.” It appears to the writer after some years study of the subject that there are at least two distinct classes of working men. One class is that of the toilers, the genuine hornyhanded sons of toil, the men who made the colonies what they are, who defying wind and weather, dug from our gold mines the treasures they contain, and in similar ways earned the respect of all who knew them. The other is that of the sea lawyers. These are the sundowners bo well known to old colonials. These are the political “ working men,” the individuals who if they venture to ask for a job, tremble at the very thought of their request being granted. These are the men who form the great bulk of political associations, and the biggest, dirtiest, and laziest of whom will always be seen flaunting aloft the banner bearing the strange device “ Unemployed.” Did you ever see such an one without his solacing “dhud?” I think you must answer “ Hardly ever.” He knows too much to forego such a luxury. He knows far too much to make manual labor a necessity. In the gift of the gab (that quality so dearly prized by a section of the community which looks below the surface) lies his strength. That is his stock-in-trade, and with its aid he can travel from Dan even to Beersheeba. Honest work will a barrier make Which you can never pass ; Her pleading eyes a keener sword Than frightened Balaam’s ass. The howl of the political working man, like that of the Liberal party, is a myth, and is only used by mongers who have no other wares to cry.—l am, &c., A Toiler.