The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1884. LABOUR.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1604, 8 February 1884, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1884. LABOUR.

We have received "the 'first number of a new publication entitled " Labour," wliicli appears .under the auspices of the Dunedin and Auckland Trade and Labour Councils. Its objects are to take the side of labour—when necessary—against capital, 'to make tho wage earning classes discontented with their lot, to free legislation from the influences of wealth, to bring down the .price of land and house's, to plate the ! Government of the colony in tlie hands of tho -wage'barriers, to remove taxation from' ; tl jo. pf life and place it' pn i ;p'ropDv|y,.,to educate the wage labor,' and" generally ; fo .make New Zealand a.,working man's millennium, sejife'el*£&ry for the wage., earning classes are led by suchaprofessions to'.jbase their hope of bettering their condition on political agitation. The very paper which is urging them to this course |ives a list of the current wages .'paid 'to laborers and mechanics in' Auckland. It ranges from 6s to 12s'per diem, Now with, all our burdensthercis-no civilised country in the world witlva decentclimate, wherea more favorable rate of wage 3 is obtainable than inNew Zealand, the test beinf; the amount of food, clothing, house and school accommodation which it purchases. It may be possible to raise wages sixpence per diem all round, but no labor agitation of- the kind sug-' gested by our new contemporary willever.'effect it. "Labour" does not tell the: forking classes that they, can do more to better their condition by individual effort than by class organisation. It does not tell them the truth, old as the hills, that there is no royal road to wealth;: that the man who -wishes -to better his condition must either work longer hours or spend , less , money.;; that- idleness, drink, and debt, tax the working man ten times more heavily than the State; and that if he fights against enemies of this sort ne can afford to

dispense ( with . political; ugitatibu, Journals like " Labor"' : ady; distrust capital, put your- confidence in those who are as poor as yourselres. Sensible men will, m feel r sure, be morOpt to imitate successful men and follow their lead. Every wage-earner' who has been many years in the colony: must have at his fingers' ends a number.:of his old acquaintances, who: have become employers of labor and property owners, and they know that this-pro-motion has not been accomplished by luck, nor by political agitation, but by the simple rule of spending less than the sum earned. ' Wo do not object to see a paper published os the direct organ of '■' labor," or to consider any arguments it may -bring : forward on behalf of the cause it represents. Still it is necessary to warn the wage-earn-ing classes not to trust too much to external influences of this kind for assistance. They must trust to their own efforts. There are plenty of interested persons in Now Zealand willing and anxious to take: the working classes under their wing, but when such persons manage to soar above the regiona'of want they generally contrive to get rid ofinconvenicntfollowers. The working "classes of New Zealand give many, an .unsuccessful colonist a big lift by putting him in Parliament, but what does the man who is benefited do in return .'fof the working classes 1 Is there any instance on record hi NewZealand where he- has raised their wages or reduced.their burdens. If there be we aro not aware of it, Such men aro usually talkers rather than workers, prom'isers rather than performers,, . When a country is fairly prosperous and its people contcnled they find it hard to live.; They fare best in hard times, and it is to their direct interest to perpetuate them,