THE GUM INDUSTRY.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 324, 12 December 1888, Page 4

THE GUM INDUSTRY.

'" Tin, gum supply this year, so far, is 8,131 lons, which is more by 2,500 tons than the largest supply in any previous year." The übovo paragraph appeared m our last >«ight's issue, and under ordinary circumstances it should bo something to congiatulato ourselves upon. 2,500 tons more than ordinary produced of this valuable export should mean increased wealth to that extent to the gum-digger who obtains it Jrotn the soil, to the sorter in Auckland, and the exporter. It will hardly be credited, however, that, to Jar from this being tho case, notwithstanding tho mci cased output, there are at least 200 men and boys fewer employed in this* purely local and uniquo industiy than has been the cuso in previous years. Two bundled Auckland men and boy?, many of tho former with familiob lo provide tor, thrown out of employment in theso depressed thncb is a veiy serious matter, and when the ciicumstances of the ease arc rightly understood, , few will deny but that it is a cruel shame, and that unless tho&e who huvo this industry in their hands and under their control cati see their way to remedying the c\il, Parliament will have to legislate for it. In former days what is known as gum .soitin<)f giivo remunoi ativo employment to hundicds of hard-working Aucklanders. This sorting was altogether independent of the process ot scraping, and requited somo littlo skill and care in the operation. The cum was sorted into eight different classes?, accoi cling to colour and quality, and this together with the packing, gave employment to a large number ot men and boy?. Giadually, however, ithas become moreand more the custom to export tho gum inthcunsorted condition. This commenced onasmall scale many years ago. Not much notice was taken of it, but gradually as years rolled on an ever - increasing quantity of imported gum was sent away, until now it forms the bulk of the expoited article. We are credibly informed that no less than 14,500 cases of unsortcd gum have been shipped from Auckland during the last month. Our readers will understand the etleet of this on the Auckland labour market when we tell them that to sort and pack thirty cases of gum would take ten men a whole day oi eight working hours, whereas to simply pack unsorted gum, the same men could' do fifty cases in one hour. In one store, which formerly employed fifty-nine men and boys, now only seven are required, though the amount of gum actually handled is in excess of what was formerly manipulated by the nfby-nine. This now svfetem was inaugurated because the American, Belgian and German importers found they could make a bigger profit by having the gum sorted by Chinese and cheap labour on the &pot. Our own labour is, therefoie, to be made to suffer for their greed. Kauri gum, like the timber from which it is derived, is unique of its kind, and peculiar to the; Auckland provincial district. Theie is nothing of the sort to be found in any other part of the world, and, for the purposes for Mhich it is used, it not only has no rival, but it has no competitor. Under these circumstances, the Government would be perfectly justified in placing a huflieient. export duty on unsorted gum to protect our own labour, The money would thus be saved to the country under any ciicumstances. Of course, it is only to be expected that e>>porters will send the gum junfc as their customers abroad request them to do ; but if the shippers continued to export tho unsorted gum, the State would veu\) the benefit, whereas, if the duty caused the gum to be sorted here, as most probably would bethe case, then fcwohundred of our fellow citizens would again be enabled to earn an honest and rcmunerath c living, and happiness would return to many a household now pinched and ill at ea.se, and some almost in despair at the woeful prospect- these harp times pj«ce? betoj-o them, We believe in protecting qur own labour j and the American manufacUners who i?o>v use the lurger part of our gum .supply have set us such an excellent example in this icspcct that we have no doubt Now Zealanders would gain in reputation for shrewdness by meeting their move by an effectual counter-check.— Auckland " Star," Doc, 8.