THE DISTRESS AND ITS REMEDY.

Temuka Leader, Volume 2, Issue 122, 19 February 1879, Page 3

THE DISTRESS AND ITS REMEDY.

The reports which reach us from every quarter of England appear to leave no room for doubt that the depression of trade, which has now existed for so long a period, has produced its natural consequence of widely spread distress, and that bitter experiences of poverty and privation are being brought home to thousands of people among classes which , although not opulent, have usually been placed above the reach of actual want. The purchasing powers of consumers have for some years past been curtailed in every part of the world ; and largo numbers of manufacturers, both in this country arid abroad have endeavored to tide over the bad times by reductions of juice, such as have not only left them no margin of profit, hut have even, in many instances, entailed actual losses, which have been borne as long as the power of bearing them remained, in the hope of keeping together a connection which might serve as a basis of more successful trading in the future. A competition of this kind implies that brass pots and earthen pots are launched together upon a troubled stream, in which, although the funner must ultimately sink, it is impossible for the latter to escape speedy and complete destruc-

lion. As matters have gone from bud to worse, th(? bn.-miess of some firms, oven a nung Lii ■ >; oiifo of great capital and high repum, has degenerated into reckless gambling, which, while it has brought no ail vantage to themselves, has'effectually prevented any legitimate advantage from being reaped by others. One result of all this has been, as mentioned by our Manclicster correspondent yesterday, a number of autumnal bankruptcies quad rupling those of the corresponding perod of 1873, and ultimately leading up to the disastrous failures of the Glasgow and the "Western Banks, with all the grovious consequence toinnneent persons which these failures will involve. While masters and investors have thus, in too many cases, been brought to poverty, the misfortunes which have befallen them have spread to their dependants in ever-widening circles. The manufacturer has dismissed as many as possible of his workpeople and his clerks, ami has reduced the scale of Jus private establishment. Retail tradesmen, suffering in their turn from the diminution of the general outlay, have sought to defend themselves by carrying on their business at a. diminished cost. In every direction the wage-earning classes have been thrown out of employment, and have become competitors in new fields of labor wl lich were often already overstocked. Savings have been expended, humble homes have been stripped of their cherished contents, and the struggle for existence has been waged manfully, and, for the most part, with little complaint or outward sign of suffering. The sudden inclemency of the weather has in many cases served as the last straw of an already excessive burden, and the want which it has disclosed is now so great as to call for the most careful consideration of statesmen and for the most strenuous efforts of the benevolent. In every great centre of industry, where the pressure of poverty is urgent, there should be no difficulty in obtaining the assistance of men of business capacity and habits, capable of undertaking the work of organisation, of considering the relation between their probable resources and the needs for which they will be called upon to provide, of estimating the claims of applicants in accordance with their past characters and industry, and of adapting the nature of the help given to that of the requirements of each particular case. Abovj/ ail things, the great resource afforded by emigration should be steadily kept in mind, and applicants who are calculated to thrive in a colony should he encouraged anc assisted to proceed to one. There is at present no break in the cloud by which the industrial future is overshadowed, and there need bo no fear of sending away workers whose places will soon bo refilled. Moreover, while the business of alleviating distress is in progress, all who are in positions of influence mar do good by setting their faces, not i ally by precept, but also by example, against the constantly increasing luxury of living' which has of I ’ate years prevailed among all classes, 1 and the more abatement of which would | do mu di to .enable our people to wait j patiently for better times. Whatever may be our present difficulties, England is not suffering more than some other countries ; and if our capitalists will ! reserve their forces instead of squandering them, while at the same time they afford the means of subsistence to their dependents, the turn ul the tide, whenever it may come, will find us prepared to take prompt advantage of the flow, and to assert once more the national supremacy in manufactures and in commercial enterprise.—The ‘ Times.’