THE HISTORY OF THE WAGES QUESTION, AND MR BEETHAM AT TENUI.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2659, 28 July 1887, Page 2

THE HISTORY OF THE WAGES QUESTION, AND MR BEETHAM AT TENUI.

(xo ihk Editor.) Sir -I have no possible objection to the * publication of the County Council Kecords.it is upon them that 1 rely \W confirm overy statement 1 have made to' the electora en the Question.; but ■ ■ Ido-objectveryinuchto Mr Beotham's '-• attempt to twist them into a proof that •J. voted for, oi- -identified- myself with a ' vote to reduce the wages of the roadmon HA Jour readers will observe that Mr Mackay had placed. two notices of motion before the Counoil,, the fiwt: x motion was "That as one uniform rftte - of wages per day will not deal justly a.ni~

I fairly with the surface men ■ • • • inasmuch as Bonie men are housed free, whilo others pay rent, ■ ■ • • the resolution reducing the wages from 7s to Gs be rescinded." Now, anyone flunking for a moment over this resolution, must see the absurdity of it; it is tantamount to "As an uniform rate of Gs acts unfairly, therefore an uniform .rate of Gs _ does not act unfairly." But I will, pass • over that, and go to ;tlie second motiqn, ; which cannbt lie severed from the first, ■ _ The second motion was the ono which was to provide houses, paddocking, and garden for the roadmen on the lines of road, and under which and no other, houses, .paddocking and gardens have been provided.-. Jn other words the second motion was to raise the wages, which had been reduced to Gs by the previous Council again to 7s, and. I may Bay in some cases more than 7s a day. 1 am satisfied that some of tho roadmen find the accommodation they now have worth -, a difference of Is Gd a day over what they bd under the old "7s a day and no house" scale. I ask the electors then, is not what 1 havo from tho first stated about this question true ? Have I ever f from first to last voted for a reduction ? You cannot separate the two notices of motion, they stand, and stood on the Council notice paper one und-r the ■••other.; if wo had voted for tho first wo could not have voted for the second, for by so doing wo should'have raised the w«gistoßs or t's Gd a day: and I say, without fear of contradiction, that th e best day's work the Council over did, alike for roadmen and rali-p.'yers was to puss a.resolution lor house'* ,ind paddocking; that it has immensely improved the positiou of the Headmen, especially the married ones in the cases under my own knowledge, while it-was owin« to tho fact of the sites having been obtained free of charge or at a nominal rent, lightened tho rates and secured more coutuitwl and more uninterrupted labor. Let tho electors read by the light of this letter the two motions and consider the voting on them ; thoy will see this-all the members of the Council exeupt Messrs McCardie and Mackay tho mover and seconder voted vgaimt the first; all the members of tho Council voted unanimously for the second; and I ask the electors to •■ say frankly whether the Council did not do what was just and right in the way which they dealt with these two motions. What was tho first motion ? I say unhesitatingly it was a "bogus" motion. Mr Mackay and his. friends were afraid Jtent Mr McL'ardle would propose a reso-"Wt-ion to rescind, and get the credit of beinp the roadmen's champion, so Mr Mackay put on the notico of motion to talta the wind out of Mr MeCardle's sails, If Mr McCardie hud framed the motion, it would have been a straightforward bona ride motion, " that tho resolu- .;•. tion reducing the roadman's wages to Gs be resoiuded," but hi droppo:! into the trap . and too lato found liimsell iiivolvcd'in a mo.tion that cut its own throat, and which . fropi first tohißtwas a sham. Ono word as . to the Tinui meeting, I hear that Mr •Beotham'a party are very jubilant at hav■ing caught Mr It, Meredith tripping, in

. faying that 1 moved tho second resolution but how, ho mado this mistake it is inipos-. sibleforme to tell, certainly no', from •auything ho heard me say ; but that he honestly thought it; ia clear, er he would not have said it in an open public meeting, boforo Mr Mackay, the very ; man who did move it. But what very' email mercies the Beetham party must bo :

content with, when they havo to sing a ." Jubilate" uvoi such a poor littlo victory Jfchw. They havo gained nothing by their •™ vc, they havo only proved, more clfuotivelythan [ could uvev have done, that 1 havo kept honest faith with the electors in all! have aiid us to my.action on the Roadmen's wages question. I ask you Sir, though an " opponent, in common sense, to give as wide a circulation to this letter as you have to the County County Record. .: , lam, &c, K. S. IiAWKINS. July 27, 1887. P.S. .Since writing the above 1 find that Mr McOardlo actually did give notice of motion very much in the terms I havo suggested, and that Mv Mackay's notice wus dated one day eaihcr than Mr M cOardlo's.—K. fs. 11.