The Daily News SATURDAY, JUNE 9. WORK AND WAGES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8130, 9 June 1906, Page 2

The Daily News SATURDAY, JUNE 9. WORK AND WAGES.

A wordy war is being waged in the big centres at the present time in connection with wages, the cost of living, and other topics of groat interest to the bread-winner generally. Admitted that wages in a few branches of organise'! trade are higher than they were a few years ago. Also admitted that the cost of living has gone up nearly 20 per cent,, but that wages—only in a very few trades, however—have gone up about 8| per oent. People with cash, employers of labor and the like, most naturally concluded that if the workers were scoring, they also ought to score, but in a much greater degree. The average Unionist saw a little ahead, but sot far enough. He saw a small paradise opening out to him in the betterment of his weekly " draw." * * * *

In most skilled trades the works: does not at the present time lift i wage greatly in excess of the wagi drawn many years ago. But he aimei more for security of tenure of his bil let. Also he aimed for the posses sion of his billet at the smallest ex penditure of skill. He did very righ [rom his narrow point of view, for hi reasoned that the unskilled man wa legitimately entitled to live, and b; his advocacy of a minimum wage am preference to Unionists, howeve skilled or otherwise, he his succeedei beyond all expectations in floodinj the alleged " skilled " labor marke with men who are not skilled, bu who have the right to a billet and th right to draw a like wage with th " ringer " in any branch of handi work. If you take merely one tradi -that of building—you find that thi wages have not gone up perceptibly during the past few years. You wil also find, if you care to make enquiry that throughout the colony, by rea •son of the great boom in that trade, that any man who has the courage tc wear a nail-pocket and carry a clawhammer is a carpenter. The Union to which he belongs does not insist, when he desires membership, that he shall be a carpenter who has learnt his trade. It merely insists that he shall pay his fees, and promises in return the pre-emptive right of a job which a non-Unionist, however capable, cannot get. # * # #

The builders of Wellington —which is the best example, seeing tbat the capital city has " gone ahead " more phenomenally than any other New Zealand town- are pleading that everything is dearer than It onoe was, and that therefore the business is less profitable than it used to be, But the builders of Wellington did not have much to do do in the old days, and their growl is merely the growl of' the greedy Ilie necessity for men arose, and they had to take the men who offered, even though they had only worn the nail-pocket of alleged competence for a fortnight, And tho builders, who are grumbling at the inexpertness of men, are they suffering? They are suffering so painfully that every boat that leaves New Zealand carries some of them away on a big holiday burst. One tiling is most obvious. If the " builders " —who, by the way haven't always learned the trade—are suffering for the high wages they pay and for the unskilfulness of their hands, they nmst have made a good profit when timber was half the price and everything cheaper, * # * *

Tbe demand for men in every trade has brought forth the least skilled. A large percentage of the men working as carpenters in New Zealand have never been apprenticed. It is nob their fault. It is the fault of the Legislature, which has followed the insane policy of protection of the present-day worker and present-day trade to the point of making it almost impossible for anybody to learn anything. Spoon-feeding is bad for individuals, and it is bad for a country. Few tradesmen in New Zealand take any pride in their work, merely because the best man is paid at the same rate as the poorest. And while the " horny-handed " have combined to bring about this state of affairs, it should be remembered that the betterment has not extended very far. Democratic labor, while it is on the job, should be democratic all round, | and not in spots.

1 here are plenty ot passed solicitors in .New Zealand who aro not drawing the wages of a carpenter. This class of folk has to pay the same price for necessities as the artisan. What about the large army of clerks, who owe their inability to make both ends meet to the labor legislation, which only affects them detrimentally? What about the newspaper reporters, who consider themselves lucky to be paid the same wages as a compositor ? All these people suffer with the horny-handed, and tho rise in prices, but do not share in the rise of wages The results are antagonistic to spe cialisation in any branch of indus try. .They are antagonistic to skil of any sort It cannot he provec that wages in Now Zealand, befon the spoon feedingof the horny-handei I'omnionced, were not commensurat with the work done and the abilit; of the colony to pay for that work It would be the worst kind of in justice at the present moment ti lower any wages, but there are meani by which the burden to everyone if New Zealand might be alleviated Land in rural districts in New Zea land is valued at a higher rate thai land near the biggest city in the world —London. The Governmenl raised some wages and raised tlu price of all land. This is the most

serious reason for tlio 'discontent which exists. Labor is spcoi-fed, but it is only the labor of the hinds. All labor, of the hands or of the brain, is called upon to pay the piper. The Now Zealand tariff is tlie most iniquitous in the world. It has been found to keep the outside world from competing with tilt) New Zealand person at the expense of the New Zealand people. It is not the poor suffering person who pays the tariff. It is the gloriously free, highly paid total population of these islands * * * *

Tiih working-man of >Jow Zealand has so passionate a love for himself that he lias no time for anybody who does not take his coat off, and the fictitious values he has created have made everybody suffer with him and through him. He has not benefited himself much, but he has put lots of money in tho pockets of the men he sought to impoverish, merely because the astute capitalist followed his example in raising his commodities to the very highest figure. The men in New Zealand who create the fuss between "capital and labour" are not representative of the people of the colony. They are merely representative of alleged labour in the chief centres, and they would not exist as skilled workers if it were not for tho tillers of the soil in the remote regions of the colony. When a colony is so dragooned that its people nre forbidden to pay the best wage to the best worker; when it has to pay absolutely fictitious prices because a minority demand it, when, in fact

the minority rule because it makes the most noise, it seems to be time to upset the existing order of things and m.ike a fiesh start. One of the essentials to a fresh start is the right to pay for skill and not mere frothy wor'.a.