THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1894. THE MOSGIEL WOOLLEN FACTORY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2739, 17 November 1894, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1894. THE MOSGIEL WOOLLEN FACTORY.

At the annual meeting of the Mosgiel Woollen Factory Company, the chairman, in moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, apologised for the fact that tho directors were only able to pay a dividend of 7 per cent. This he attributed to the hard times, and in order to meet the contraction in the earnings of the company the directors contemplated reducing salaries, and effecting other economies, by getting girls to do the work DOW done by women, and boys Jo do what men are Mosgiel ; Oorop/my is a very large' conc ® rn > *o,d owns mills at M sgiel, Ashbur,*"'* 1 ’ Kaikoura. Tho last-named two miij<T were acquired by the company to lessen competition, but it appo .rs that this has not had the desired effect. Competition is growing keener and keener, the profits are growing less, and the only remedy found for it is to cut down wages—dismiss men and women, and do the work with boys and girls At this rate men and women will soon get nothing to do, and will be entirely dependent on the wages of their children. We do not blame the Mosgiel Company ; it is only following in the footsteps of the whole world, and the more this policy is persist'd in the worse things will got. Tho com-

pany will this year effect a saving that vfill enable it to pay 10 per cent, but the competing houses will send prices down still lower, and the Mosgiel Company will in a few years have to apply the pruning knife again. Thus wages will continue to go down, and things must go from bad to worse till this system is changed in a direction that will give remunerative employment to the people. There can be no doubt as to the cause of the low prices. Some think it is due to the currency question, and the cure can be found in bi-metalism, but in our opinion the cause is that wages are being cut down, and that millions are idle, with the result that the people have not the means, of purchasing goods. The currency question may be a factor in the produc tion of this effect; it may be the primary cause, but want of employment and consequent contraction of the spending powers of the people is the immediate and the greater cause. The Mosgiel Company’s action, therefore, can only make matters worse. The lower wages become, and the greater the number of the unemployed, the more depressed trade and commerce will be, for as the spending power of the people will contract ' commodities will depreciate in value. But, although the Mosgiel Company is . only doing what its competitors are doing all over the world, we must say this : .that so long as it is able to pay 7 per cent, oh capital, allow a fair margin for depreciation, and carry a fair amount to the reserve fund, it ought to be satisfied. So long as these results were produced they had no necessity fur reducing wages, bu{ that is the way of the capitalists; they insist on securing the highest possible amount of profit for themselves, and it is this very thing which will bring about their own ruin in the end. They are'hever satisfied with a fair thing:. they insist on getting as much as possible, and this is what has brought on them Factory Acts and other restrictions. It is a sad state of things when the law must protect'the poor from the rich, but so it is, and hence the restrictions on tho|» engaged in industrial pursuits. Mr Watson, one of the shareholders, made a suggestion which met with no support, and yet it was the most sensible thing done or said at the meeting. He said that now as wages were coming down it was desirable that the company should manufacture inferior and cheaper goods, but this was not entertained—yet it is the very thing that is wanted. The greater part of the imported goods are made up of cheaper material than that used in our local mills Our goods are all wool, and, of course, cannot compete with material which is half or three-quarters cotton, and the result is that our own mills are often standing idle. The Mosgiel, Ashburton, and Kaikoura mills did not work on an average five hours a day all the year round, and that means a loss to the employer and those employed. Now if the company manufactured cheap slop-goods ’to compete with the inferior imported article these mills could work all the year round —the employees could do better, the company would make more profit, the money would be kept in the colony, and everyone would be benefited. But the directors declined to do so for some reason known only to themselves, and instead decided to cut down wages, throw men and women out of employment, and make matters worse. It is a near-sighted policy like this that is creating a widespread depression, and the worst of it is that the tendency throughout the whole world is in the same direction. For this reason the prospect of an immediate improvement is remote. The competing syndicates will continue this cut-thro.t competition; wages will get lower and Ipwer; the number unemployed, will, swell to larger and larger proportions, till >the situatior will become intolerable and some solution of it must be found. How long until this time comes! is what no one knows, but let us hope it will not be deferred until the people are driven to rebellion.