THE GAINS OF LABOUR.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 202, 28 October 1897, Page 4

THE GAINS OF LABOUR.

— +. P>kn the most ignorant will soon be ashamed to repeat the old cry that the rich .ire becoming richer and the poor poorer. It was once nocessar}-to refute thi< popular sophism. Now it is not; ou all hands there is overwhelming evidence that the poor are steadily becoming richer, and that a smaller proportion cf the produce of industry goes to the wealthy. In the report on changes in ratal of wages and hours of work which we epitoinis.nl yesterday there are striking signs of this transformation, which is going on, mrely with the intervention of sti ikes or unions, over almost, the whole face of industry. The fisrurcs are free from some of the infirmities of earlier returns on this subject. They are not confined to the members of trade unions, who after all, form only a minor part of the wage-receiving classes. They ckim to cover industries wherein are employed eight millions and a hnlf of persons ; and they all tesiify to an improvement in the position of the workers —an improvement probably greater in the United Kiugdom than in any other country. For one fall in wages in 1806 there were about, ten rises. For one person disadvautageously affected by changes more than two-thirds were benefited. .Iu the four years 1893-96 there was a di crease in the hours of labour per week, and in the last of the four the changes affected a fair larger number of persons than in an}- of the three previous years. The improvctwnt, was all round, except in mining and quarrying, it was noticeable in all parts of the United Kingdom except Wales and Monmouth ; but the mo.-t inaiked increase, chiefly brought about without strikes, was iu the metal, engineering, and shipbuilding group of trades. A quarter of a million of workmen received an increase of about 1'1,000,000 a year in wages—a " result due to a remarkable upward movement in the engineering and .shipbuilding trades effacing altogether the fall in 1594." The upshot of the official information is that " the local changes reported were nearly all in an upward direction."

Lying outside the world described in this repoit is a multitude of persons who, it is pritty certain, h .ve not shared in the rises in remuneration chronicled by the Board of Trade. For them there is no talk of a " fair day's wage " or an eight hours day. It is possible that iu many cases their remuneration has decreased just as their toil has increased. Their grievanres arc rarely heard of. They have no means of coercing their employers They do not picket, send deputations to .Ministers, or meet in the Park. They have no special Acts passed fur their rjlief, uo privikgia of any kind. There is a datk side to mod;-rn industry, but it is not so much the fate of the manual worker or artisan as that of the small employer, saddled with all the risks of a capitalist, the solitary worker whose moans are his brains and education, the poor teacher or governess, the clerk with all his crushing

load of respectability, the struggling professional man whesa remuneration is small, uncertain and deferred. A Commissioner wbo inquired int > their condition would have a very different tale to tell from the cheerful account in the last Board of Trade report on wages and hours of labour. —Times.