The Wairarapa Daily. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1893.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4449, 20 June 1893, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1893.

In dealing with tenders for the Electoral Rollb of the Colony the Government recently adopted an entirely new and original departure, When tenders were first received, from all parte of the Colony, it was found, we believe, that they ranged from about four to twelve shillings per .page. Assuming that the fair value of the work to be done was about eight shillings per page it was evident that while Borne tenderers sought ah ox» ccaaivo profit others were content to earn a small one, It was also plain that while aorae tenderers based their pstiraatea on a high rale of wages, others formed their calculations on a very low rate, Under tho tenders sent in, some printers would probably have earned twelve shillings a day, others eight, and some poor beggars not more than, four. The Government tried to remedy this anomaly in wages by calling for fresh tenders, and by specifying iu the latter that prices either thirty per cent above or below their, own estimate would be rejected. This virtually meant that erery tender belotv fire and sixpence per page on the one hand,'and above ton and sixpence per page on the other would be informal. The intention of tho Government was a good one, viz, to prevent underpaid labour being employed, but we fear that while they brought their horses to the water they could not mate tbein drink. There are at the present time a considerable number of printers out of employment in New Zealand who oannoteurn eight shillings a day, b«t who wigktbe

glad to earn foor.V The notion of the Government was in the direction of keeping theso; poor fellows at arroß length,■ v The eleo'oral. rolls might have : provided' a month's employment for at least a hnn« dred of these waifs and Btrays without interfering with the ordinary employment of men in the enjoyment of regular standard wages, because the rolls are a sort of windfall that conies to the trade once in tbree years. The Government, sympathetic with the well-to-do labourers, turn a cold shoulder to the lean kind and turn them empty away. We do not, ourselves, care to seeuuderpnid labour coming to the front; still, at the same time, why should the hungry ones have been debarred from touching certain crumbs which might well have been spared, In a spirit of kindness, the Government has undoubtedly been cruel. Then, again, when they force a tenderer by their new regulations to raise the amount of his tender, is he likely to divide the welcome surplus as a bonus amongst the workmen whom he had engaged to do the contract, say at four shillings a day. No, Ibis would be contrary lo human nature, and in most instances he would put into his own pocket the extra money which tho Government intended to he paid to the men, All attempts to regulate work and wages by Government machinery seem to result in making things worse instead of beiti-r for the working man. The open market, the open competition, the freedom lo make unfettered contracts are after all the best conditions for the average laborer, In old days a workman would at one time make a pound a day and at another time but half a crown. He took his chances and was contented to fight his own battle in the.Uolony without fear and without favour, Under this system the best workmen of the Colony have been trained and we fear that the spoon-fed, bureau-guided. Home-nursed, cooperative cobblers of the present day won't turn out to be an improvement on the old pattern,