THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1892. GRANDMOTHERLY LEGISLATION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2414, 20 October 1892, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1892. GRANDMOTHERLY LEGISLATION.

One of the stock arguments against the present Government is that they are the bond slaves of labor, that they are socialistic, and that they pander too much to the working classes. It is the height of folly to talk like this when the law has made all men politically equal. To the politician the working man’s vote is as important as that of the wealthiest of his constituents, and it is his business to look after the interests of the one as well as the other. Why, then, should anyone feel smTi'isftd at tk mtai'Bfits of labor being attended to ? Or how can anyone expect that the interests of labor shall be neglected while all other classes are carefully considered? It is because '■ what’s seldom is wonderful.” Up to the present time very little notice was taken of the working classes, and now, when a little is done to improve their condition, the novelty of it strikes people with astonishment. Let us look at what has been done to forward other interests. Last year about half-a-dozen horses died from the effects of the bot-fly, and Sir John Hall appealed to the Government to employ a veterinary surgeon to ascertain whether anything could be done to prevent the spread of the disease. Sir John Hall is one of those who do not believe in grandmotherly legislation, but what else is this ? Are not owners of horses able to look after them without a grandmotherly Government taking the matter in hand? In the same way dairy inspectors have been appointed to teach people how to make butter and cheese. Is this not grandmotherly? Cannot the owners of dairies learn these arts themselves? Then we have a Stock Department looking after the cattle and sheep interests, and providing medicine for them. There are also a host of sheep inspectors, rabbit inspectors and so on, and all this and, a great deal more, is grandnmAlmr/y State care. thoroughly appiw# of fill this. We approve of the State exercising all possible skill in advancing all interests, j We approve of the bot-fly being destroyed, together with the Californian thjsti.% tim scab, and the rabbits, but bow can any give in's sanction to all this grandmotheidy .tare, and object to a Labor Benurea being established to secure employment for those who i cannot find it for themselves ? Why don’t people look fairly and squarely and honestly on these questions ? Why should not the interests of the unemployed be eoij'Sid.ered as well as that of all other classes ? the State undertakes the care of sheep, cWtle, ( horses, and dairy industries, and so on . surely it cannot be a very heinous crime ,to give a little consideration to the wants of the most helpless of human beings ? To us it is astonishing how Sir John Hall could not see the incongruity of condemning with i unmeasured severity any effort put forward to better the condition of his fellow beings, while at. the same time

calling on the &tate to come to the rescue of horses dying of the effects of the bot-fly. It savors of a very unchristian spirit, but it is all due to the training which ages have inculcated. Let us hope that a nobler spirit, is dawning on the world, and that the day is not far distant when all this bosh about grandmotherly legislation will be regarded as what it is—arrant nonsense. All our legislation is more or less grandmotherly, and the more we shall have of it the better for us all.