The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Ressurexi. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2986, 10 September 1878, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Ressurexi. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1878.

The festivities attendant upon the opening of a through line of railway from Christchurch to Dunedin, and the holiday trip of Members of Parliament, are now well nigh over, and we suppose honorable members will return like piants refreshed to their duties.' We do not begrudge members a little relaxation, and the occasion of their ,gping to the South was no doubt an important one in the history of the Colony ; but it is significant that while our legislators can spare time to travel hlmost from Dan to Beersheba at the public exf snse there should arise a plaint from tbe unemployed. Nevertheless such is a fact beyond dispute. From Greymouth on the West Coast a number of men in a destitute condition have been deported to the more favored district of Canterbury, where they are reported to have found employment. Here we hare a similar cry, and from what we can learn the unemployed are more anxious to *be taken away than, to be found work at stone breaking or some other precarious employment. There is a reason for this. The working'raeh can see that in those districts which have been favored with a; large expenditure on railways there is more chance of .permanent employment and a high rate of wages than is to be found here. ■ Public expenditure may have been rightly directed, but why should districts like Thairies and Greymouth— both mining centres which have contributed largely to the material wealth of the Colony—be left out in the cold, and when all other districts are bubbling over with prosperity, be found to be overcrowded with labor? We sayit is owing to the vant of foresight on the part oi' the Government more than anything j else. We have been ignored almost in the Public Works scheme; and although j the present Government propose to do us j tardy justice.we hare no guarantee that their proposals will be ratified by Parliament. The local bodies may tide over the present crisis without resorting to the expedient of sending away our population; I but let us not lose sight of the fact that j our claims to a share of the loans have a right to be heard, and must.be hoard. .No doubt some of the unemployed are tired of waiting for the promised- railway from Thames to Waikato. Let one and allunite in urging this matter once more upon the Government. What: is manhood and woman's suffrage to a population that has, men .seeking for bread for their families? Measures of reform and economy iniadrainistration that will more equally distribute colonial expenditure are wanted, instead of the much vaunted liberal institutions which: are to supersede the old state of things. The efforts of the Government should.be more directed to relieving needy districts than adding to the advantages of those already enjoying the results of a lavish expenditure. Parliament will soon meet again for business^ Peradventure after their trip south and seeing what has been done there, they may 'be more disposed to assist districts like our own, which are languishing for some of the good things so abundantly bestowed on more favored localities.