MR J. C. FIRTH. PRESENTATION BY BAY OF ISLANDS COAL COMPANY. ADDRESS BY MR FIRTH.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 410, 12 October 1889, Page 3

MR J. C. FIRTH. PRESENTATION BY BAY OF ISLANDS COAL COMPANY. ADDRESS BY MR FIRTH.

Auckland, October 3. At noon to-day >'a very pleasing little ceremony, aa illustrating the friendly relations which exist' only too rarely between employers of labour and their, employees, took placo ,at the office of' the Bay of Islands Coal Company, Queen -street., Mr J. C. Firth; late Chairman of Directors of the Company, was presented with an address andi a very handsome shield of photographs of the colliery staff and employees, with views of the mine works, bearing an inscription as follows: — "Presented to J. C. Firth, Esq., late Chairman of Directors of the Bay of Islands Coal Company,* by the employees in grateful remembrance of past favours and a& a token of their esteem." > 'There were present at the presentation, besides Mr Firth and 'the secretary of tho Company (Mr H. Giltillan, junr.), Mr J. B. Gilfillan, Captains Thomas, Dam, and Smith, all of whom, though not employees of tihe Company, had resolved to participate in the ceremony of presentation in order to evince their respect and esteem for Mr Firth. Captain Dam is an employee or the Company. Mr H. Gilfillan made the presentation, and in concluding his speech, said : — " The greatest unanimity has prevailed in connection with this presentation, and' thoro has been but one universal desire — to show, though in a rery small degree, our feelings towards you, who have been all along our staunch, sincere, and kind friend. Our sincere hope is that ere long you may enjoy more prosperous times than you have lately ■gone through, and I now ask, on behalf of the employees, your acceptance of this gift in grateful remembrance of past favours and as a token of their esteem." Mr Firth, who was doeply toucheJ by this expression of the esteem in which he was held by his old employees, rose, and in reply gave a most heartlelb and interesting speech. Hesaid : "Mr Gilfillan, — If 1 were to say that 1 am not touched — and deeply touched— by this instan.ee of the. goodwill of the employees of the Bay of Islands Coal Company! over, whom I have for so long a period had the honour of presiding as Chairman,. I should not be expressing my true feelings. In point of faot, 1 am most" deeply r&uched by this very kind remembrance, of whab I have done in the past, and I am especially gratihed by the very kind manner in which the work people have conveyed this very .handsome gift to me. It is true that misfortunes have come upon, me, bub they have. not crushed me, and. I can look back upon my cai'eer in this country, and survey it without much regret so far as my deeds are concerned. If tho chief end of a man's life is to be the acquisitipn of a great fortune .which he may spend in ministering to his own pleaspre and the gratification of hisluxury, then I have failed. But if the chief end of life 'is' for a' man to live not for himself alone,, but always to endeavour to -remember that he is> roally nothing more than one- member of a great family, first remembering his friends by kind deeds, then extending to the people who are next to his £riend,s., an,d then stretching beyond that to the peoplp whom he does not know, but who all form part of a great family of brothers — then I have "endeavoured to^livje. a life, f^hat) a, man should lead. It has always been my aim through life in all its phases f to always endeavour to cultivate a feeling of consideration for others, and to put myself in thqir places. That feeling, I believe, has lai,n at t^he foundation of all my dealings with 'my fellow -men. I think I can say that I have never looked upon the workman as a mere machine, to be driven and used up to get the utmobt possible amount of work out of him, and then, when ,worn out and old, to be cast on one t>ide like an old shoe. That has never been my feeling. Although I may never again for the remainder of my life become an employer of lab.our as I have been, ,my feelings in that respect will always , remain unaltered. When the time comes I shall, not neglect the opportunity, if it be in my power, to mairvtain the rights of my fellow-men, perfectly regardless of their position as to wealth or influence. , I , can- see well enough that great changes, arb coming in the relations bet weep , capital and labour. Happily in this colony^ and indeed in the whole Australian colonies, there i- a much .better feeling betweeh employer.s and employees than in- older countries. There seems to be something treer in the very atmosphere. We seem to beanimutedagreatdealmorebj'Burns'^rand sentiment — 4 A man's, a .map ipra'that' — than in Old- World countries, and it* cannot be denied that in coming to these new lands, whatever may have * Been the influence that we have established al Home, a muc,h better relation exists between maa and man than is tp be found in older lands. This is without doub.t one of the .secrets of the influence of the colonies over opinion in Great, Britain and in Ireland. We are now at tho beginning, of a much botter state of things and a better feeling with legard to. capital and labour than has existed in tho, past. We have recently read the record of a great struggle between capital and labour in the city of London, and I am, sure all of us teel, proud that, although we are separated, from them by. so many thousand miles, still the golden bond of sympathy connects us with thoso poor, underpaid,' over-worked toilers ot the great metropolis. There ha& of late been a great deal ot talk about federation of the colonies, but I believe that the time is coming when we shall see a grand federation of all English-speaking lands on the globe. We may berejoiced that the London, struggle has ended so satisfactorily. To ray mind this question in dispute is one to be setMed by mutual adjustment. If (a fair consideration is brought to bear upon the question with regard to the reciprocal relations of a man and , his employees, and the question treated in a broad, sympathetic, honest, generous manner, I feel certain .fchatj there is sufficient good dealing .in -the hearts of men to enable an adjustment to be made both as to the hours of labour and the better division of the profits resulting from labour. I feel certain that, there will eventually be ,a fair and reasonable adjustment of , difficulties without resorting to steps which need to be accomplished by force. I would urge capitalists everywhere to put themselves in the position of others beneath them, those they employ, and endeavour to rightfully fulfil their duty — that duty which belongs to them." In concluding Mr Firth asked Mr Gilfillan to convey to the mine employees his sincere and heartfelt thanks for the very kind and appropriate memento which they had presented to him, and in referring to the mine said that he was very pleased to. be able to say that, owing to the splendid manageraentofMrMoody.theminemanager, whatever loss of money there had been they had not lost one single life. "There are, I hape, brighter days in store for the Company," said Mr Firth ; "a time is)

coming when the shareholders will receive a return for their mdnoy more equivalent to their patient, long-standing courage and energy than they have received in ,the past. Of course I retired from the" chairmanship and surrendered my shares in consequence of my misfortunes, but I shall always tako a deep and unfailing interest in the future fortunes of the Bay of Islands Goal 'Company. I again return the staff of the Company my heartiest thanks for their kind remembrance of me in my hour of darkness." Captain 'Dam, ah old ox-employee of Mr Firth's; spoke of the kindness' he had experienced from him for many ' years, and Captain Thomas said he wished to bear personal testimony to the fact that what Mr Firth had'kaid regarding placing himself in the positions of others lower in the world, ,was ,np • vain speech, but a truth to which he ; could bear witness, bearing in mind what had happened between himself and' M r Fii-th not long ago. The little ceremony then concluded. %>% > The shield of photos is a very handsome one, and was executed by JVIr John Lowe, of Kawakawa. It includes twelve photographs of members of* the mine staff, a group of Workmen, and- a eenfcral photo of Mr Firth. The shield will be on view for a few days in the shop of Messrs W. Phillips and Son's, Queen-street.