Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1892.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4246, 18 October 1892, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878]

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1892.

Being the emended title op the Wairabafa Daily, with which it is identical.

Three yeais ago New Zealand professed to be alarmed at the number of departures from tbis Colony, now it ia in trepidation on account of the number of arrivals, All our large towns are thronged with unemployed and within a week's travel there are hordes of human beings, seekingwork and finding none, who may accentuate the difficulty we find ourselves in. In Melbourne alone there are said to be five thousand unemployed and any number of these are liable to land on our shores at any time. The cheap excursion season is setting in and who can say how many unfor« tunates it may bring to us. There are certain people whon. we need and that is persons with capital who can employ labour but such individuals have been warned off New Zealand grass by the Government. There are people we don't want and these are men wanting situations, for to tell the truth, there are very few billets for any class of labourers, The Labour Bureau is an excellent institution for moving drones about tho Colony, but it cannot, excepting within the range of the Government service, make billets for men who aro, unemployed; and thero ia a limit to the number of persons whom the Government is able to find work, and tbis limit has already been pretty well reached, Are we to have an invasion of unemployed from the neighbouring colonies, who will bring down wages and generally disturb the Labour market? We cannot say, but we do know that the Government has sent out invitations, and if a horde of unemployed do not visit us it will not be the fault of Ministers, We .say the Government have sent out invitations, and any man can read their message in the Government official handbook, a work well-known, uot only in the Australasian Colonies, but in Great Britain and Europe, In the Official Handbook, glancing through the title of contents, the heading "Labour in flew Zealand" at once catches the eye, Our friends abroad are told officially that aa a field of labour New Zealand offers exceptional advantages, Is tbis true and if it be true how is it that thousands of men aro either unemployed in this Colony or doing the Governmeut Stroke ? To quote again from tho Official Handbook, we read that "To those whose proclivities tend towards a pastoral life, occupation as stockriders, shepherds, etc, may be obtained," Is this true and is there at the present time a dearth of labour on stations? We believe that it in untrue and that on stations there are more applications for billets than there are billets to be filled, Then our friends abroad are told that thousands of men are employed in sawmills and an impression is created that any number of billets are available in this industry, Even the flax mills are puffed up as a perennial source of employment and as for kauri gum it is stated that diggers often make from £2 to £i a week each, but our friends abroad are not also informed that many men have starved while following,this lucrative pursuit; All our industries are carefully catalogued and it is shown how easily men may earn money at each and all of them. Strangers arriving in the Colony are of course invited to

call at the Labour Bureau and pick out such billets as will suit them. In this manner the Govornment has encouraged labourers from all parts of the world to come to New Zealand 1 and share our happiness and prosperity. Nothing is said about the unemployed and no one, who reads the official handbook, can for one moment imagine that it is possible for people to bo unemployed in this Colony. If the Government invitations be accepted we shall get i suV stanLial increase in our labour population, which will bring down wages with a run.