CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1089, 2 June 1882, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

GAOLBIBDS. ' T6 the Editor. Sir.—Your correspondent. Mr Eoberi S, Hawkins has no doubt according to his idea made out a good case, but take the other Bide of the case, The committee representing the petition is composed of all _ classes of workmen, tailors, joiners, cabinetmakers, printers, bootmakers," and others, and, notwithstanding what Mr Hawkins says to the contrary, I can assure you, sir, that they are" real honest sober working men endowed with the usual intelligence." Why does the working man leave England and come to the colony ? Because he thinks he will better himself, but if such a system aa teaching skilled labor in prisons is to be resorted to by the Government of the colony the working mon will be as wel| off here as at home, taxed to support prisoners that are taking the bread out of his mouth. A "gaol bird" "must have gained an honest living up to the time of his crime, and after being punished for his offence can he not return to his previous calling 7 If he is a smart rogue and you teach hica a trade will he not make use of his trado to further his roguery ? Sir, I think there is quite enough " hard labor' 1 for prisoners.to do, harbor defences and such like, without taking the trade from honest mon. We all know what a blessing it is to have honest, intelligent, skilled and industrious workmen, but if the present system iB con* tinued such men will have to compote with prison labor befoie he can gain a hvehood,

Now, Sir, departing from Mr Robert S. Hawkins' letter, I will, with your permission give a ahort extract from a Parliamentary paper published last year from which we find there are at present, working in gaol at their trades in competition with honest labor 7 blacksmiths, 10 shoemakers, 10 carpenters, 10 carpenters, 10 tailors, 12 printers and assistants, alto tinsmiths, masons, coopers, &c, and it is proposed that those shall tench their trades to other criminals. To give the whole would occupy too much of your valuable paper, I thiuk I have Bhown enough to satisfy most men that the sooner such a practice is put a .stop, to the, better, and that the soouer working men awake to the evils that surround thorn tho better, . •

.The list Mr Hawkins refers to has been aignod by all thoße who were asked bo to do, but two, one that did not like to, tho other, lam sorry to say, is of Mr H.'s opinon, It is forwarded to Wellington, where it will help to swell the number of signatures that have been collected in both Islands. lam<k,' One Interested.

GAOL BIRDS. TO THE EDITOR, Sir,—A letter appears in your issue of 'the Ist inat., from the pen of MrR. S. Hawkins, who, on a recent occasion, claimed to have represented a largo number of tradesmen and other working men m the British Parliament. I read his vigorously worded letter with a certain amount of respect as coining from an intelligent, and as Ihave hitherto thought, a practical man. But my feeling on reaching the end was one of disappointment, that so sensible a person should have taken so ono sided a view of a matter which seriously affects every "real, honest, sober tradesman," There aie somo aspects of the question which do not appear to enter Mr Hawkins' mind at all. He sees (strange to say) only the prisoner's view. He does not for instance think of the work done in the gaoli by the various criminal tradesmen in actual competition with free labor. Cabinetmaking, printing, saddlery, and many other branches of work are entered into in the prisons, and overy pound's worth »t skilled work done by criminals takes a pound out of the pockets of free tradesmen, IVI r Hawkins' argument that every additional skilled tradesman is a blessing to the community is an utterly absurd one m praotice. What kind of blessing would forty or fifty more carpenters, tailors, saddlers, printers, &c, be' to Masterton I'They might'be as intelligent as could bo wished, but if there i 6 not work for them they are a curse and not a blessing. The system of turning every criminal possessing the least intelligence into a tradesman will be found, in the years" to come, a frightful error. Even now through the ease with which a youth can become apprenticed to any' business in the colony, all trade? are becoming over crowded in a perfectly legitimate way, and with a benevolent Government turning out Bkilled artisanß by the hundrods annually what will be the condition of tradesmen in the course of a few years! It is not a pleasant outlook for any class of workmen. The effect will be what Mr Hawkins ardently desires to see, viz., •wages nearly to starvation point, and tradesmen forced to become laborers to earn bread for themselves and families. This mußt betheresult, as there will never be room in the skilled branches for the illegitimate increase of workers, Distress is even likely to result from the too free employment of apprentices by private firms. Mr Hawkins,apparently forseei this result of the Government scheme, and hence his strong support of it. Under the present system tradesmen get fair wages, and the bona fide laborer com-, mands value for \m work; direotly! the trades are swamped'there will he a large increase of the laboring class, and the wages will soon he down as low as oven Mr Hawkins would wish, them, This argument from a pradical point of view, is, and judging from the' present natural increase of skilled labor iir the colonies, together with the constant arrival of men from other parts, cannot be upset. I would submit to Mr Hawkins that criminals who know no trade should, and would if honestly inclined (and

toaohing a burglar, say the art of a locksmith, would not tend tomakehim honost \ ifheisnotsobent)earntheirlivingbylabor. The demand for labor for farms, for bush-falling, for road-making, is certain to increase much faster than the demand for tradesmen. But apparently to earn their living by labor is too degrading for the man or woman who has broken the laws of their country, and honest but hard ■ work is not the course by which a criminal is to ba" led into channels which will restore him to theranks of honest folks." Law abiding mechanics must be turned out of their work to make room for men who have perhaps disgraced themselves by the worst of crimes, A man who, . during a term for rape on a childdfoeven years, has been taught the art is to be placed by the a respectable father of a man who, by frauds, hlsr ruined hundreds is to be placed -on the same lovel as the artisan, whose proud boast it is that "he owes not any man-." Tho [intelligent garrotter is to have all the privileges of the inoffensive tailor; and all because they have been fortunate enough to servo for a time in, gaol. Mr Hawkins is like many more of the. public —the matter does not affect him personally (except in the manner I have indicated), and be can exhaust his rhetorio ' and round offhia sentences with a glow of virtuous indignation and shame. He should .be ashamed of himself for ignoring the claims of those most affected," which are certainly not the prisoners. WhiU the domand for labor exists'there is always the means. of gaining an honost living. Making tradesmen of criminals will not make honest men of them!.. Ido not, aor do I think would any tradesman "with the intelligence of his ohuift (bow patronising,!), believe-in back upon a man who might have madewfalse step and was truly anxious to live honestly after paying the penalty for ibi -If he were of my trade (had learned'it legitimately), I would hold out a'helping hand and aid him in his endeavor. : -If a man is an "idle man"—as Mr Hawkins would know if he were a tradesman-teaching him a trade would not make h'iin anindustrious one. For a paragraph written "in Ibis year of grace," that commencing. with the words ''industrial schools'? in Mr Hawkins' letter' is about the greatest piece of bathos. I have seen for some time, In the next paragraph his dramatic outburst of "fools Wools I fools!" moved me to laughter, and in answer to the eloquent query," Does one honest, hardworking man take from you wealth or profit?" I say emphatically he does if ho is one too many. And. there are bound to be hundreds too many skilled tradesmen if the State makes every gaol an apprentice shop. To osrry out this soheme will bring about the result with respectable tradesmen whioh Mr Hawkins pretends to dread from the criminal class if they aro not taught trades, viz., young, clever tradesmen will be taking up the old ways of the people who oust them by working 'for lower wages, or through being deprived'jpf tho work to which he has bought up through thp overcrowding'■# his trado by Government apprentices, will develope into an idle loafer, 1.6 be finally ,/\mprisoned, and in his-turn compete'with and help to.cut down the -prices "paid for work done by free labor,, and ; thus become a " diserace-and-rt curse"'on the industry of the community. • ; Mr Hawkins confesses with gratiiying frankness that he is a poor philanthropist, ' and askß " Who and what are they who nre thus agitating ?" I will answer him. They are those whose future living and J the advancement and refinement of. their trades are in danger, and who understand from practical knowledge .what they aro talking about, I would ask ill-conclusion, who and what is Bobert S: Hawkuiß that he should set his theories and his hope of oheap labor against the interests of the •tradesmen and the. community at Israel The aetion of such as he would tend to bring about a sterner Trade Union than ever existed at Sheffield. Apologising for the excessive length of this letter, ... I am, &c., . • • • Mechanic.