Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1909. A GOOD LABOUR POLICY.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4479, 26 October 1909, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1909. A GOOD LABOUR POLICY.

This above all—to thine own tell/be true, And %t mutt follow at the night the day Thou eamt not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

A CKRTJf-N notorious ind-'vidual who *• finds some mischief sti 1 ! for id’e bauds to do,” has been very busy in sowing discord in the ranks of labour. Some of the newspapers in New Zealand make it very clear that agitators are tiding their best to cause discontent amongst manual toilers and to convey the impression that muscular work is not honourable, and that the workers are penalised by playing second fiddle to employers. Such fake teaching is not merely bunkum, it is positively untrue and mischievous. Far from being despicable or low, hard work whether muscular or mental, is extremely honourable. Tho day is fast approaching when those who can work and do not or will not, will bo scouted by all honest men, but the horny-handed, the skilled mechanic and the brain worker will be held in high esteem. Shirkers will be i looked upon with as much contempt as the soldier on the battle field who sneaks away into a place of ease and safety instead of acquitting himself as a hero. Mere drones in the human hive will have to move fin without standing on the order of their going. In the past, prophets, apostles, and the world's best benefactors were bard workers, and some of them were ploughmen, tent makers, fishermen and manual toilers. Both muscular and mental workers are quite indispensable in successfully carrying on the complicated work of tho world. Their social service to their countiy and to humanity entitles them to grateful remembrance and adequate wages. The labourer is worthy of his hire whether he work with hand or brain. 1

The tiue po'icy of labourers is to work in sympathetic unison with employers. Men who carry beams upon their shoulders, chafe and injure each other unless they keep time in walking ; and the burden of employers and employed is made doubly hard to bear when there is friction aud both parties do cot keep step. The world’s out-put is diminished

ny friction and disunion. Two men | working together can do more fch»n thre« working separately ; and the welfare of the woi Id is enhanced by a long pull, a strong null and a pull altogether of muscular and mental I workers. I

Instead of manual toilers looking with distrust and depreciation up <n braiu workers, they should regard them as indispensable co - workers whose! success is a real gain to humanity. Who could estimate in money the very valuable services rendered quite recently by Mr Winstone Churchill in settling the Scottish Colliery dispute and saving the miners a million sterling per , week wages, and the workers* wives and children inconceivable want and suffer ing ? Ignorance of history, economics, commerce, and the facts of common life lead the working classes to grudge adequa e rewards to captains of industry for mental labour. Employers have their own peculiar trials, anxieties, and discouragements, and they often require the wisdom of the diplomatist, tho courage of the valiant soldier, and the dogged persistence of exceptional natures to carry commercial undertakings to success. Without adequate rewards the best work of the industrial and commercial world cannot be carried on with much advantage to a community. By degrees, although perhaps slowly, the dignity and worth of labour is being recognised. Political unrest and undue Parliamentary interference with trade and industry increase the cost of living and lessen the purchasing power of wages. But no candid person can honestly deny that the wage earners in New Zealand are gradually improving their status and prospects. That position will go on improving at an accelerated rate if manual toilers will take an increased interest in their work and the prosperity of their employers. Justice begets justice. The best policy of labourers ie to perfect their Trade Unions, classify workers, give aged persons a better chance to earn a living, grade workers according to efficiency, do a fair day’s work, enoourage co-operative trading, cease to needlessly harrnss employers, and pursue a course of 11 Live and let live.”