Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1894. WAHT'S TO BE DONE ?

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4724, 18 May 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1894. WAHT'S TO BE DONE ?

SECOND Ei/ITION

A young colonial, a tall robust man, caiiio into our office yesterday and presented tlio following letter Sib, -I have. now been on the " wallaby" track some four months, and have travelled near upon, one thousand miles in search of a master. A good part of my funds were eaten up in paying exorbitant railway fares; my food I purchased as long as I was able, then I was compelled (you cannot realise how reluctantly) to solicit charity of the " Lordly Squatter." 1 have now realised that society is run on battle lines, and am seriously considering some method of assuming the offensive. Exasperated, I am Hknry George, Hawke's Bay Native, Now in Mastertoii. Now wo could not understand how •such a man could travel ft thousand miles about New Zealand with eyes in his head and ti tongue in his mouth without gettiuga job. In tho course of conversation he gave us the explanation. He was not prepared to accept less tlmu what ho considered to be the standard rate of wages, If engaged as a cook lio should require twenty-five shillings a week and found, if as a station hand a pound, By taking less ho would, in liia opinion, do an J injury to the cause of Labour. He is, of course, entitled to take this position, and lie is simply mi example of the Working Jinn of to-day as developed by that Minister for Mischief, and that Manufacturer of unemployed, the Hon. W. H. P.

Reeves. Ho claims as a right, employment on a certain basis of wages, and if this be not accorded to him he openly expresses an intention of warring against society. When the man first interviewed us wo felt sorry for him, and were actually about to ask a friend to give him a job, but after ho bad named his terms we saw at once that we were powerless to help him, and the only person who can solve the difficulty is tho Hon. Mr Beeves. We ask this eminent authority how such a case is to be dealt with. The man is now in his department, but shortly, if lie carries out his threat of reprisals, lie will be in quite another department. Is the Hon Mr Reeves educating the working man of to-day up to a point at which they have no alternative but to become outlaws. This appears to us to be the case, and it is from this point of view that we consider the Hon. and well-mean-ing gentleman to be tho Minister of Mischief and the Manufacturer of Unemployed. Here is the case of a man who could have got work a, dozen times over, falling into the ranks of the unemployed because lie ' he is loyal to the principles preached : and practiced by the present Gov- | emment. We have not a word to j say against the man himself, for we 1 have no reason to believe him to bo ] other than honest and sincere in the i statement he has both privately and 1 publicly made, but the responsibility J rests with a Government which has (

encouraged men to take up find net upon convictions of this kind. Ho has followed high counsel, and now holds that but one alternative ia open to him, and-that an illegal one. Ho claims lawlessness ns a right, and though we trust ho will not be so misguided as to cany out his threats, what remedy can the Minister of | Labour offer in such a case ? Is the | outcome of his policy to bo civil tumult and rebellion p