Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1909. A WORD TO THE WISE.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4488, 13 November 1909, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1909. A WORD TO THE WISE.

This above all—to thine own self be true, And it must follow as the night the day Thou canst not then be false to any man Shakespeare .

Thf.rb are bitter complaints amongst certain traders because of tbe irritating interferences with trade, and the excessive wages demanded in some instances. To give one or two illustrations, we may mention that a man being out of work applied at a factory and, as' much out of kindly consideration as of need of help, the mau was taken on The Union was at once up in arms an d the Secretary informed the manager that it was a breach of the award. On the manager going to the authorities it was found that in the particular department in which the man was placed it was not a breach of the award, so the the Company insisted on retaining the man’s services, although the Trades’

Union demanded that preference should be given to a Trade Unionist.

That is one illustration of the friction that frequently now takes place between operatives and employers, and it very much militates against the pleasurable and successful conducting of business. Another instance has been brought under our notice in which the award of wages in the leather industry is so excessive that our New Zealand tanners cannot give the high price for bullocks hides which Canadians give and the consequence to this Dominion are likely to become more serious than some persons imagine. It appears that in Canada the operatives in the leather factories work two hours per day longer [ than our men work in New Zealand, and whereas our men get, say £2 16s per week wages for certain work, men in Canada would get only £1 18s per week for the same services. The consequence is our manufacturers cannot afford to give such high prices in the New Zealand market for hides as the Canadians give, and they come here regularly now and compete against our local buyers. wfyge earners think over that subject. One consequence of that will be the increased price of New Zealand boots, and another consequence will be that a good many persons will probably be dismissed. We have heard of one factory where three hundred employees are engaged, and in another where seventy are engaged, and in both instances it is contemplated that many men must be discharged. Now we are the last in the world to wish to see wage-earners paid inadequately. We believe in a living wage and ip speb a w<f,ge as will enable men to liye spefr liyes ps become rational human beings predestinated tp enjqy not only life bpt happy relationship with the Great Giver of life. Believing in the dignity of manhood and womanhood we claim for them that they shall be treated not as mere tools or parts of the machinei yof a factory. We shall ever protest against grinding the faces of Uje poor or paring down wages to bare' The labourer is worthy of his hire apd )s entitled to justice and even liberality; but wtple we believe all that we think that it is to the yery best interest of manual toilers that they shopld seriously consider what is fair and just to employers as well as to themselves. It was a of George Eliots that: “It never does to bjfc your hardestand wage earners may extort wages from pp employer to such ap extent as to injure him th emaP^ve ® 0, We venture to counsel was 6 earners to remember that you can ppik p cow until you bring blood- or squeeze an orange until you taste the biW r f>f the rind, and you can metaphorically “ squeeze ” employers until you ruin an industry and throw yourselves upon the streets amongst the unemployed. A word (to jthu wise is sufficient.