The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1886. THE UNEMPLOYED.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1549, 28 August 1886, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1886. THE UNEMPLOYED.

Thb leopard can as easily change its spots as the Timaru Herald its politics. No one was surprised at its attacks upon the poor and helpless under the old regime. It was fully recognised as the organ of monopoly thin, and nothing but monopolists’ views were expected. But heartless and inconsiderate as it often has been with regard to the •woes and wanta of the poor, it never was Worse than it is at present. In its last two issues it has dealt with the question of the unemployed in the most cavalier way. In Thursday’s issue it commented on a letter whu h had appeared in Lloyd’s Weekly on the state of the labor market in this colony. The letter was written by Mr G. Kimber, ot Timaru, and represented that want and destitution were to be met with in New Zealand as well as in the Old Country, and that thousands of ableI bodied men were tramping the colony, and unable to get work, There is no doubt but Mr Kimber exaggerated the state of affairs. Things are not altogether so bad in this country as they are in England, but at the same time they are so bad that Mr Kimber’s representations are nearer the truth than these of the Timaru Herald. That paper denies that able-bodied men and willing workers arc tramping the colony, and says if the men tramped more, less wOnld be beard of them. It seems to treat the unemployed question as a matter that had scarcely any existence. Now, what are the facts..? Between Temuka and limaru-—a distance of twelve miles—a certain traveller met one day fifteen swaggers on the road—that is, more than one to a mile. In Otago several runholders have combined together, and have inserted a joint advertisement in the papers stating that swagger* would neither get food nor accommodation at their stations, Only that the swagger pest has become intolerable the runholders of Otago, who have always been proverbial for their hospitality in this respect, would not have inserted this advertisement. And yet, though there were 15 swaggers met on the journey between Temuka and Timaru, there is no cry of unemployed in this district. What mast be the state of affairs where meetings of the unemployed ore held daily ? Yet the Timaru Herald would deny the existence of distress among the working men. In yesterday’s issue the Herald commented on the Auckland unemployed, it condemned them as loafers, and suggested that the Government should cease to provide employment for them. It also animadverts in unmeasured language on the action of certain politicians who have bad the humanity to go amongst the unemployed to (peak to them, to ascertain their wants, and to study the question genially. Now, we ask, why should not politicians go amongst them, and try to ameliorate their condition if possible ? They are the people's representatives, and they have every right—in fact, it is their bounded duty—to study lheque«tion,and try to find for it a remedy. Moreover the present depression is positively and directly the result of bad and mischievous legislation, and those who brought it about are the very men that ought to try to remove it. In the first place immigrants, regardless of their suitability, were cast wholesale upon our shores The lame and the halt, and the blind and deaf were accepted as readily as the most stalwart and capable agricultural laborers. It is all very well to call some of these loafers now, but these loafers are the result of the mischievous system of immigration indulged in. But let us n member that while work was plentiful even these people, incapable and badly selected as they were, never murmured. There was no Unemployed cry then. But this was by no means the worst thing done. While this immigration was going on the lands of the colony were sold in large areas to monopolists, money-rings, and speculators—these combined together and raised the price of land to a fictitious value, amassed wealth by a fraud, in which our legislators assisted them, and thus brought about depression. On the top of these the country bas been steeped bead over ears in debt. Money was borrowed wholesale and employed in making railways to give fictitious value to lands of specenlators, and now, when the day of reckoning is at band, tha colony cannot produce sufficient to meet oar liabilities. It is not that the colony is incapable of producing it, but that the men who ought to be producing are idle, and can find nothing to do. This ia at the bottom of all our woes and wants ; our population ia not profitably employed ; large numbers of them are idle, while larger numbers are engaged in pursuits which yield no profit to the country. Hence the reason that our exports are not increasing in proportion to our population. We have nearly trebled pur population, while we have increased our exports only by about SO per cent. If our population were properly employed, we would be exporting between nine and ten millions worth of goods

annually instead of between six and seven million?. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary that--;>ur law-makers should at once take steps to remedy this evil. The unemployed question is too serious to be hushed up and snubbed out as the Herald desires it to be. For instance, in the face of all this cry of the unemployed, the representatives of the people in Parliament assembled this year passed an iL’tn of L 19,000 to be expended on immigration. If the people properly understood what ibis means, we are sure they would rise up as one man to impeach it as scandalous, rascally conduct. With this money more immigrants will be brought into the co'ony to swell the ranks of the unemployed, and twice that sum will have to be spent next year in finding relief works and charitable aid for them. Our representatives certainly ought to explain to tho unemployed what this means, but they do not understand it themselves, neither does the Timaru Herald.

ENGLISH POLITICS. The news is still conflicting. Its latest developements seem to indicate that a coercive policy for Ireland has been abandoned. Not only that, but yesterday’s cablegrams say that Mr D. R. Plumkett, President of the Local Government Board, announced that Government would .develope Lord Ashbourne’s Act, and tbit Mr Gladstone’s policy was insufficient to satisfy T reland* Nothing, he said, would pacify Ireland except complete autonomy. Of course it is difficult to say what the meaning of all this is. Lord Ashbourne’s Act, so far as we can recollect, was a measure introduced by the Salisbury Ministry last year for the purpose of buying out the Irish landlords, it was considered at the time very liberal, and likely to produce good results. If this line of policy is to be followed it is possible that some justice will be done to Ireland. La addition to this, the admission that nothing but complete autonomy will satisfy Ireland, gives a hope that the Government will do something in that direction. Mr Plunkett is an Irishman ; some of his ancestors were Irish patriots, and more than one of them, if we remember rightly, voted against the Act of Union which robbed Ireland of her own Parliament. Mr Plunkett has always been a Conservative, and has strenuously opposed every Liberal attempt at improving the legislative position of his native country. He is a very able mun, and a speaker of great ablity, and these powers he used in opposition to Mr Gladstone’s policy. It appears strange that he should now regard Mr Gladstone’s policy as inadequate, when a few weeks ago be condemned it as an attempt at separation. However, politicians are never consistent except in two things, and these are : to stick to office as long as they can when once they get in, and to leave no stone unturned in the attempt to regain it once they lose it. It may be that the Conservatives will give a more liberal measure of Home Bole than that proposed by Mr Gladstone, and if they do it will bo rather strange if the Unionists support them after having thrown over their owii chief on tbe same question. It will, remarkable if ■h« Marquis of Londonderry is to be the last Lord-Lieutenant in Ireland under the system which the perfidy of his ancestor, Lord Castlereagb, established. However, there is nothing definitely known as to the intention of the Government on this point, but if a European war breaks out, as is very likely, Ireland will have her Parliament without further delaj.