The Working Man's Paradise.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2925, 15 June 1888, Page 2

The Working Man's Paradise.

A well-known Christchurch resident who had paid a somewhat lengthened visit to Victoria, haa given to the Tress his impressions of the capital and the state of the labor market there. He states that the labor market in Victoria is considerably overdone. The Exhibition has absorbed ; a very large number of men, some 300 or 400 artisans of all kinds being employed thereon, besides labor in the matter of clerical work, etc., but these would have been discharged long ere this had it not been that the applications for«i space came so largely in excess of first expectations that the Commissioners were forced to extend the buildings very greatly, So soon as this is completed, which will now be very shortly, the whole of these men will be in the market again, and tho wants of private employers, which have been rendered more prominent by the absorption of so much labor in one direction, will be able to be more than supplied. Anotherpoint he called attention to was that, though thertA an enormous amount of building carried on in Melbourne justnow, it is entirely speculative. Rows and streets of houses are erected on the land purchased by the various syndicates, not for bona-fide occupiers, but as speculations. They are run up cheaply, and in many cases hastily, and will, perhaps remain untenanted for a considerable period, It will thus be seen that the impetus given to the labor market is not the outcome of a solid prosperity, or one that is likely to continue. Speculators finding that house property—as from the very magnitude of the building operations it is most probable to do—is not a profitable method of investing their money, cease to erect houses, preferring deal with the land itself, and thus tho present temporary rush in the building trade will be but brief. In other matters there is a very keen competitinn in the labor market. The advent of the Exhibition has, aa was natuflfe attracted all the surplus labor frlm the neighboring colonies ofNew South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania, and thus artisans and mechanics from a distance, such as from this colony are at a disadvantage. Added to this is the fact that Jiving in Victoria for the working man is no cheaper, if so cheap, as ia New Zealand whilst there are many disadvantages to be contended with, As to what may bo called educated labor, there is positively no room for outsiders except they l*ve very strong influence and friends at court. So far, then, the experience of the gentleman referred to-and he took some pains to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the true- position of affairs-goes to prove the wisdom of mechanics and artisans, and, indeed, all from New Zealand, bearing in mind the sage advice of Shakespeare ■who prefer to bear the ills they h'att , rather than fly to those they kntflßL not of. One point in connection witfiP* this portion of the subject may be noted. The Victorians, and indeed Australians generally, do not, to use a familiar phrase, " cry stink' tog fish.," as the New Zealanders are apt to do as regards their country. . "I have gone about, a good deal during my visit," said the gentle^

referred to, " and have seen a great deal of the working of matters both in Melbourne! and Sydnoy; but I have returned with the firm impression thsfifcew Zealand is far preferable to Australia, and that, on the whole, it is better for the working man. We have a grand country, with unequalled natural resources—resources which Australia cannot equal—and all we Avant is coniidenco in ourselves and the country we live in. Wku'n Hair If gray, restores to original culur An elegant dressing, softens and beautifies, No oil nor grease. A Tonic Restorative, Stops hair coming out; strengthens, cleanses, heals scalp. ±