The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1886. SIX SHILLINGS A DAY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2211, 11 March 1886, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1886. SIX SHILLINGS A DAY.

It was once the custom of our local contemporary to iiisiut upon the working .expenses of the Wairarapa East County Council' being reduced, ..and after many days he ought to be happy that a reduction has come to pass, Unfortunately however, the shape which the; reduction Ims taken is more thorough than was anticipated, . To clip! the salaries of the Engineers and clerks was. juat it wub, ■in fact,;" a popular cry," hut to.make an all round reduction which includes the working man's sevon shillings: a day is. decidedly iin " unpopular movo" and probably the retrenchment which was once insisted, upon in the. interests of the overtaxed ratepayers, will now have to *be condemned to satisfy the demands of the working man. There, was a time when six shillings a . day was the normal rate of wages in the colony, and iiien were contented with this sum but! this wa3 prior to Sir Julius Vogel's great Public Works scheme. The inauguration of the railway works in New Zealand raised the rate .of wages, which then ranged trom six to seven 'shillings a day to seven and eight, and though seven years ago there' was for a time a slight full in the rate, paid there has substantially been but trifling changes during. the last thirteen years. No doubt the action taken by • the County in reducing its pay . for surface men to six shillings per day will test the present condition of.the labour market. If the Countv can ..secure good men at the reduced rate its action will ba justified by the result.: On the other hand if good men are unobtainable at six shillings a day, it is evident that the county will have to revert to its former scale. ;It is.il. question. of : supply and demand which should be fairly worked out, :Everybody, would wish to see 'the working man receive it good days pay font good day's work, but in the present financial. condition of the colony no one can afford to dispense with any economy which is practicable, If the men now in the employ of the Council can earn better wages elsewhere than are now offered, they will as a matter of course take them, if, on the other hand, they cannot better their position, they would be foolish to reject the terms ojfeml by the County. No doubt in taking such an unpleasant alternative the County authorities are acting from a sense of duty, ■ Local bodies are impoverished by a Government now in power which is recklessly extravagant jn finding highly-paid' billets for its personal friends and criminally negligent of the interests of the country districts, Let the iiien whose wages are reduced to six shillings I a day blame the Ministry which has repealed the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, and which is starving local self-governing bodies on the one hand whilst imposing a poor rate on the other, Let them censure a Ministry which, to please the \V,est Coast representatives, has discontinued the construction of our railway line through the bush. Let them reproach Ministers who came into office racing golden promises of a bright future for the colony] This bright future h?s been realised* perhaps, by Ministers and; their personal friends, but for the; working man nothing hasbeen provided i but charitable aid. History will record that while Sir Junes Voqel reigned as Treasurer of the colony, the Property Tax was increased, road

works- wero suspended in country districts, a poor law was passed, and wages were reduced to six shillings a day.