The Daily NEWS FRIDAY, MARCH 19. SKILL AT A DISCOUNT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 46, 19 March 1909, Page 2

The Daily NEWS FRIDAY, MARCH 19. SKILL AT A DISCOUNT.

Au employer was charged in a city Court ou Tuesday with having employed a nosi-unionist at a time when there I were unionists available. In evidence it-was bhown tlunt the mail who was ■employed -was an tuiusua-Ily skilful worker, that he had left the uuiou ijeeau.se tlie attains of it wore run by incompetent workmen, ,and had decided, like many other men of individuality, to staud or fall IVy his own skill. Unionism has been a. gireat help to the mediocre i;i Now -Zealand, no advantage to tlie unusually skilled .man, and an enemy to the aged and needy .workman who U not worth the minimum wage. Unionism does not recognise individual excellence; it levels all workers in any trade to the one level, and it recognises no .skill that is .shown outside itself.

• The case of a tradesman w'lio left New Plymouth a'hout a "fortnight i>£° is ,to the. point. This man i* sixty-live years of age, r Trade in hU particular line of business is <stae,k in this town. So he set out to walk towards Wellington. lie intended getting work on the way, if possible, hut "was iniaWe to do so. Jie arrived iu Wellington last Mondav, destitute, and on Tuesday applied to the Trustees of the Benevolent Institution, for relief. There was no doubt about the fat-t tlmt he was a good tradesman, hot 01 no to the or employ out h i if to IS

uei the young so hoys to trades. UTiion trade round a signboard, the always d i t of lie he is not always so good a worker. A good many New Zealand unionists in any of the old countries could not keep A job for a week. Anyhow, they -would probaibly get tired of working and "would be aching to have a Court ease with the boss in lesH time than that. The (essence of iimionism in this country seems to be to keep down skill, to 'prevent anyone learnii.g a trade, and to starve the old tradesman. Wildt\ved ipersnus, 'without .skill of any kind, apart from wu ability to wag their jaws And pour vitriolic speeches out, have come to be called "the worker*," They are no more the workers than the eo.ws of Taranaki are the tree-climber*. The oibvious desire of most of the labor leaders is to lead the workers .to a pluto where the worker .shall not have to work, which is very bad i'or the alleged worker ami for the country he lives in. There is too much tinpot dignity about the organised persons 'who wield hammers ami saws and other took of trade in New Zealand. Everybody 'wants to have a little better position without doing anything to deserve it. The most honorajhlc thing a man ean do is to work. The highest ambition a man might have" is to do the particular job he as engaged on in the most rdvilful manner possible. The best worker can command good wages at any time and iu any country when' the skill he wields Ik required. The loafer and the unskilled ma;i is not wanted, in any other country than the one when* the minimum 'wage exists and trades unionism has 'done its best to sink the skilled worker down to the level of the unskilled. nVihnical schools are all very well, highly necessary and desirable if the «laaw of a country are stu-h that men may be allowed to use the highest form (af skill, but in a. country where it is toot necessary to be skilful to earn good (wages as high as those paid to the best ■mew there seems to be no need for technical excellence. To -put it simply. Mill

- I Jones is a good tradesman, lie eaniff ten shillings a day. Jack Smith is a J ipoor tradesmen. ITe earns* ton shillings \ 'a. day. Why should Jim Smith Attend I inimical classes to increase the skill he need not ÜB9? ' Tbto slight depression that already exists in New Zealand makes it evident that unnatural conditions cannot ,al- j way* obtain. The speculative tendency j in which nearly every class of person j lias shown of late years is bchig loss every day. New Zealand will some day be hound to depend on its own skill and not on the vagaries ot the money market by which everyone handles money thai is no't rightly his. j)Mpre*hioii. although it way he widespread; does not a fleet .the person "who is dependent on his own -skill, and -who does not depend on .organisations run for profit 'by unskilled pcple. Times tonic when the man who has to work for a living may not be ailde to coerce the man who -has work to give him. The ability to work is of •no value if thenis «no need for the exercise of the capacity. Trades unionism and quarrelling do not create work. The trades-union-ism that i* prevalent in Xew Zealand is

tin- kiii'l liial. redm-cs 1 In* ntimWr of joljs, 1 lit' output and the gcnprsil prosperity ami iputs a 'premium on the results of labor. La.lmr lias not in the Piast desired to assist. It lias tried vitli moiv or less Mtccess to dominate. It can-not dominate Uie labor market if" tlirre j* no work. .LaW, t><M3illcd, has 'ant beoii' content create. It bits, indeed, done .much ill the way of destruction. There is at the present time in New Zealand .muck need fur <juict ell'ort. tHid '-ilenl tongues, fewer demands awl greater conciliatory elVorts. le-s <jf .the alleged dignity or labor and nioVc real labor, more i'oree behind the loafer and •greater help for the man 'who does the •most work.