THE WEEK, THE WORLD, AND WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9069, 21 April 1908, Page 6

THE WEEK, THE WORLD, AND WELLINGTON.

(Ry Frank Morton.) POINTS IN PASSING. A number of domestic servants arrived in the Tongariro last Thursday. 1 have been unable to discover that one of them came on to what we may call the open market, seeking service; and it is at least doubtful whether the Government can justly grant assisted passages to girls who come out to join friends and girls who come out under contract. The domestic servant problem becomes increasingly acute. It is difficult to get servants at all, and it is exceedingly difficult jto get good servants. If a thousand girls of the right character and class came out, they, could all find employment in decent houses. A thousand immigrants of that sort would be extremely welcome. The legal profession in Wellington has been doing honour co Mr James Ashcroft, who had done excellent work for years as Coroner and Official Assignee, and who now retires. It is so seldom that I admire the lawyers that I am glad to get in some modest applause about here. Mr Ashcroft is a man well worthy of honour. Placed in a frequently difficult and generally unpleasant poistion, he has won the respect of every man, and especially of the unfortunate debtors with whom ho has had officially to deal. He is a man strong in kindness, a man unmarred by any brutal instinct. There was a Polo Ball a few nights ago—the first ball of the season. I didn't go myself, not being a dancing man; but those who did go had a glad time. Polo is a great game. I saw much of it in India. Once I even rode a polo pony, and the little beast and I had a vastly uncomfortable time for an hour or so. Polo is truly a great game. I recommend it to shop assistants, junior clerks, and all other persons following sedentary occupations.

factories are clamouring for labour. Hands are wanted at the woollen mills in Wellington and elsewhere, at the match-factories, at the cardboard factories. I hear that they cannot get handa to cope with the ' huge and increasing demand at the | big jam factory down at Nelson. In the towns, the stores find it very difficult to get women for their workrooms. And with all this, the scarcity and cost of domestic service becomes day by day a greater source of harassment to the householder. On these facts, the conclusion is obvious. Whether the labour-unions protest or not,' we want more people in this country; and if our industries arp to llourish and become permanently strong and sound, we want more people soon. This scarcity of factory labour would really be the easiest tiling in the world to overcome, if the Government dared or cax'ed to take intelligent action in the matter. If Mr Reeves published in the great English centres information regarding the wages paid in New Zealand factories and the conditions of work, a million eager emigrants of JJthe right sort could be found. But few of the mill ion would have the money to pay their passages to New Zealand. That is where this Government would come in. I don't believe in pauperizing the immigrant. But I see positively no reason at all why the Government should not advance passage money in approved cases; and there seem to be about a thousand valid reasons why the Government should. All the coddling in the world will not develop an industry that cannot get hands to work it. Problem, then; which is the thing of paramount importance, to develop our industries, or to coddle the labour-unions? Are we to govern for the whole people, or merely to govern by the methods of compromise and claptrap in order to conserve a precarious political niajority? Thesa are questions a statesman would answer promptly enough; but we have no statesmen yet. We have, on the one hand Mr Massey and'his little lot; on the other hand, Sir Joseph Ward and his nigger little lot, his majority that depends absolutely on the whim and will of the labour-unions. I don't believe that, so far as the ultimate destiny and salvation of this country is concerned, it matters twopence whether Sir Joseph or his opponent rules the roost just now. It may be that, having no very intimate knowledge of Mr Massey, Ido him an injustice: that is conceded. But it seems to me that the strong man New Zealand wants will grapple first of all with the labour question Stand or fall, he will do the right thing, undeterred by any merely political consideration. You may not have noticed it, but there is all the difference in the world between a patriot and a politician. The politician is prepared to hustle for his clique; the patriot is determined to live, and in case of necessity to die, for his country. If any such spirit as this were demanded by the paople, most of our present legislators would be forced out of politics. The new, srtong man would be a lover of his country and a devout individualist. He would be passionately determined to defend the rights of minorities. At present, the theory seems to be that minorities have no rights. The new man would see at once that it is folly to boast of the prosperity of the country, while making no adequate provision for the security of the industries on which ths prosperity of the country must inevitably be based. Thei-e is nothing on earth to prevent New Zealand being, proportionately to its size, one of the greatest industrial countries in the world. We have abundant minerals ana abundant water. We have splendid ports that can easily be defended. And, with all this, we have just now scores, of factories that cannot get labour sufficient to cope with the demands of present trade. Here, then, is something for parliamentary candidates to talk about.

THE HATEFULNESS OF WORK. I am driven to the conclusion that work 13 rather hateful in the eyes of some of the young men and most of the young women of the cities of the Dominion. Your young man will always work, unless he is an incorrigible waster; because work means certain things to him. It means possibility of fuller enjoyment, if not of fuller life. It has a distinct bearing on love, courtship, and marriage, and some other things that still occasionally count. The young woman has less incentive. In the average case, the chief preoccupation is to look dolly and nice until some man persuades her to take his name and the chances. If the young woman lives at home with her people, she is still less in love with work. She may consent to smirk behind a counter in a strictly superior shop, or her ambition may take her into the crowd that is constantly watching for , a typist's billet. But if you suggest a factory to her, or if you dare breathe a suggestion of domestic service, you shall hear her jibe. The factory may be good enough for her father and her brothers; but she scorns it. And 33 for doing housework for a wage—well, your own experience will have taught you how she feels about that. This country wants just now a few thousand young women who are not so confoundedly superior. For myself, were I a bachelor with a modest income, I would sooner marry a capable huusemaid than a dressy shopgirl. Some of the neatest and nicest little housewives I have ever known have been housemaids in their youth; and some of the most dreadful shrews and slatterns have been shopgirls. In any case, I don't think that this growing contempt for honest work is at all a good sign. And so I get back to my original contention. If people to do certain classes of honest work cannot be found in the Dominion, Government should set about importing the people needed.