The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 1888. PRICE OF LABOUR.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1721, 7 April 1888, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 1888. PRICE OF LABOUR.

Mb Vincent Pyke, M.H.R., who has just returned to the colony from Melbourne, and who is one of those very much troubled with the Freetrader rabies, has been substantiating his views on that question by showing that the wagus paid yi Victoria are no higher thun they are in New Zealand. This he considers a great argument against Protection. Nobody ever thought Protection would increase the wag es of working men, and consequently Mr Pyke's arguments can have but little weight. What Protectionists e.tpect is that Protection will expand the field of labor; that it will provide more employment, and that consequently the working man will be more' constantly employed. Is it not hotter for a working man to get six shillings a day all the year round without any loss of time, than 8s a day for one week and then spend the next week looking for another job ? This is how the working man will gain by Protection; ho will get constant employment. As regards Mr Pyke's arguments about the price of labor in Victoria, they are an absurdity. The price of labor, like the price of anything else, is regulated by the laws of supply and demand, and that the supply should become greater than the demand in Victoria at present is only natural. All the other colonies are suffering from depression ; Victoria alone is prosperous.. The consequence is that almost every man who has the means is deserting the other colonies and crowding in to Victoria. We know that every ship that leaves New Zealand ports tales with it large numbers of able-bodied men —the bone and sinew of the country—to Victoria, and a telegram the other day told us how even farmers were throwing up their farms in South Australia and removing into Victoria. Thus the Victorian labor market is becoming over-stocked, and consequently it is more wonderful that we do not hear of distress and destitution there than that wages are no higher there than in the other colonies. It is certainly wonderful how Victoria finds employment for the extraordinary large number of people that are crowding into her now, and the fact that she does shows how elastic the employing powers of a colony becomes under a system of industrial development.

As regards the price of labor there is nothing extraordinary in seeing it low at the present time. Every commodity is priced low, and labor must come down with other things, Grain at 2s 6d a bushel, men at 10s a day, would not work. The grain grower would have to cease work, because ho could not pay. In the same way grain cannot remain at a high price long with the price of labor very low. li would, ve think, be better for all parties if everything was much dearer than it is at present. Cheapness is our bane, our curse, and the cause of all our miseries, and the sooner we realise it and make a change the better.

RELIGION IN SCHOOLS.

Ik our last issue we commented on the absurdity of asking a candidate for the position of a schoolmaster questions ia reference to his religious belief. This has led to the matter having been ventilated at the Board of Education last Thursday. The Eev. Mr Barclay brought the matter up, and said he wished it to be publicly notified that no question as to religion was put to applicants for appointments under the Board. We are very glad to hear it, but at the same time we assert that the change has taken place very recently. "When Mr H. Cross, M.A., was candidate for the position ot second master to the Temuka District High School, in the list of questions aßked was one with regard to his religious belief, and he answered it. Amongst the other candidates for the office were some who refused to answer the question. It has been explained to us that the question was originally put on the list by mistake, and that it remained there until the papers, which had been printed, had been used. Now fresh papers have been printed and the question referred to expunged. Of course we did not know this change had been made, and hence the mistake we fell into. The change has taken place very recently and we of course had no knowledge of it. The way the matter has appeared in the report of the Board would lead one to the belief that such a question had never been asked and that we had been guilty of a deliberate misrepresentation. Such is not the case. The question has been asked, and answered until very recently, but now it has been expunged, and we are glad of it.