The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1890. DEMOCRATIC LEADERS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2122, 8 November 1890, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1890. DEMOCRATIC LEADERS.

Christchtjbch sent to Parliament last election only two Xoung New Zealanders worth their salt. These are Messrs Beeres and Perceyal,

Born in the lap of luxury, brought up in exclusive social circles, educated to regard themselves superior beings, they have both broken through all conventional barriers, and sprung into political existence as the most thorough-going of sTew Zealand democrats. It was anticipated last election that the democratic sympathies of these gentleman began and would e»d in . the West Coast railway. It was generally believed that as soon as that was disposed of they would become staid and conservative like their class, but there they are now leading in the vanguard of Liberalism. And yet .they are so

unlike each other, Mr Beeves is brilliant, impulsive, and generousheartedj Mr Perpeyal staid, thoughtful, cautious, and slow to act. If it were possible for Mr Beeves to transfuse into Mr Perceval the superabundance of brilliancy and propelling force with which he is endowed, and for Mr Perceval to dispose £o Mr Beeves of the over-cautiousneas which exercises too great a restraining influence on 1 him, beth would be as near perfection as we could expect politicians to be. But as they .cannot do this, they do the next best thing, they go together, and doubtless in that way the' result wIU be the same. In a recent speech Mr Beeves gave his reasons for being in favor of unionjsfn. He said that next to education unionism had dope more to improve the condition of the working classes than anything else. He said:—

When England was a very poor country, with no manufactures or trade, the English laborer was better off. In the middle ases, for hundreds of years, lie was better off, down to the reign of Henry VIII, It is true that the wages were low—sixpence a day for artisans and

fourpenco for U, hordes— but. wheat, was leas than niuopence\a' bushel, and other things .Were cheapen proportion.*-. The land was" accessible, to the people, and enormous commons were the proper!} of the poor man.- There existed; trade 1 guilds, composed of masters and men -wprkmjg- together. There Employ ers ? - lA.sßooTa.tion, Trade- N and Benefit-Society all in one, promoting the interests of the laborer and looking after him in sickness and old age. By working half the year, or less, a .-man could earn enough to keep himself and his family for the whole year. • But that was all changed by Henry Ylll. the worst king who ever came to tho'thrbne. He confiscated the property of the monasteries, which were the hospitals and cTiantablo institutions of the day; also the property of the trad guilds, and robbed the poor man of the commons. By debasing {the coinage he caused prices to go up with a rush, while the wages did not rise with them. In the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth a law was passed giving the’employers power to meet every year and determine what wages they would pay. A law was passed making it criminal for a laborer to demand more than was fixed. If a man was found a vagrant and not working he was liable to be whipped and branded. The position of the working man got worse and worse, and in the reign of George 111. if a family worked hard all the year round at the current rate of wages they could not possibly earn enough to save themselves from starvation. Yet all this time England was getting richer and richer. Sir F. Edoijt wrote that a father, mother, and three sons, almost grown up, and all in wo-k, could, t>y the exercise of the greatest industry and frugality, do so well that by the end of the year they were only about £3 10a to the bad ! (Laughter.) That was why he believed in trades unionism ; that was why he was a fr’eud of unionism, and had supported the Labor Bills in Parliament.”

All this is perfectly true, and corroborates what we have frequently said in these columns before. We have often said that the. people were better cared for under serfdom than at present, and Mr Eeeves is of the same opinion. The, , movement that was ushered in by Henry Till., was the commencement of individual liberty, and the brutal doctrine of “ the survival of the fittest.” Individualism has run its race now, cupidity, greed, and avarice, and heartless indifference to human sufferings have destroyed 1 it, and unionism is taking its place very fast. All classes are uniting and this must eventually result in a huge co-operative system, i -

LAND FOR SETELEMENT,

In his address to the electors of Gladstone in June 1884 i —that is pver six years ago—Mr Twomoy put forward the following scheme: —“ To settle people on the land let the Govern merit buy five or six acres from the present owners and lease them for life at a rental of 5 per cent, on the purchase money to agricultural laborers desirous of settling in such homes.” ’’his scheme was taken up by Sir Julius Vogel and a provision was inserted in the County Council Bill to give it effect. When the bill came before Parliament it was thrown out by the Atkiasonians, and nothing was heard of it until in 1888 Major Stewart of Ashburton. Mr W, P, Eeeves, Mr Perceval, Mr Buxton and others, forced the Government to place £IO,OOO on the estimates to carry it out. This was lost by one vote, and now we find it favored by all sorts and conditions of candidates, and it will without doubt be carried through next Parliament. Mr Ehodea says it will be necessary to borrow money to carry it. We tell Mr Rhodes that it is not necessary to borrow a single six-penny bit to do it, and if it is done with borrowed money a mess will be made of it. Instead of the Government buying the land let the Government insist on the farmers leasing these plots of land to agricultural laborers under conditions which will insure freedom of contract to both parties. Por instance, let the Government act as an intermedium, securing to the land owner his rent, and to the tenant fixity of tenure and protection from landlord aggression. If money is borrowed, and the land sold to the the laborers no good will be done. When any laborer wants to give up his holding the land owner will buy back the land again, and in a few years all these homesteads would vanish. Let us, therefore, have no further borrowing; it is not only unnecessary, but mischievous. Let us begin the scheme honestly, and put an end to the financial jugglery which has ruined the colony.