Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1894. SHEARERS' SORROWS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4787, 31 July 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1894. SHEARERS' SORROWS.

We were amused the other day wlion Mr A. W. Hogg brought before the House the sorrows of shearers. All men have sorrows; " man is mado to mourn," mid there is no individual in the community who could not a tale unfold of trouble and misadventure. It is only, however, the woes of working men, organised into labour unions, that are laid before the Legislature. As for our shearers, they ought to bo ashamed of themselves, for their lot is a singularly fortunate one, and they would be the last persons in the world to bother | the State with their troubles, were it not that they have been organised by paid agitators, and grievances must be found for them in order to keep their union together; or, 111 other words, in order that tliey may be induced to contribute part of their earnings to pay the annual salaries of the paid agitators. Mr Hogg, of course, drops the tear of pity, and labour members are duly sympathetic, and the labour press heaves big sighs, but the whole thing is arrant humbug. It is true, shearers are sometimes badly lodged; but what traveller through up-country districts docs not sometimes get an uncomfortable shake-down. We, ourselves, aro still haunted by old memories of up-country accommodation which fell to our lot in bygone years, and so, 110 doubt, are hundreds of our fellow settlers, but we never dreamt of asking a benevolent legislature to pass a Feather Bed Act of Parliament on our behalf. Besides which, a shearer can carry a portable tent with him wherever lie goes, and sleep like ft Prince, or, say, a surveyor or engineer. A shearer ought to be as" happy as Larry" without the pity of Parliament and tlio pleadings of a Mr Hogg. In , the first place, ho earns from ten Shillings to a pound a day, and has his meals thrown in, Now these meals are,'wo we find, quite a little feature. We have obtained direct from a station - not one rif the swell stations which Mr A. W. Hogg has excluded from his criticism, but one of those which lie abuses, the shearers' menu.. It runs as follows: :

5 a.m., Tea and Cake. ' ' ' 7 a.m,, Hot Chops, Tea, White Bread

and Butter. 10 a.m., Tea and Cake. Noon, Meat and Vegetables, Pudding often procurable. : . j 3 p.m., Tea and Cakes. ' , 6 p.iu,, Tea, Meat, Bread and-.Butter " and Cake, ' .' ■ ;

Jfpjv.is this n case of ; pitying ilie poor ljevohas discovered-' that they are occasionally stuffed with » food

called " Brownie" and that this is j a grievance. Wo are told thntl " Brownie" .is currant loaf made fioslieyery day, tbo same as ordinary penny buns, and we don't think that evenmembers of the House with their L 240 a year ought to turn. up [ their hoses at" Brownie," We say advisedly that shearers ought to be i ashamed of themselves, and we do so becanso wo know that in very many instances they aro fine manly independent fellows, quito capable of looking af tcr thomselvos and fighting thoir own.battles. They havo no occasion' to go -whining' to Parliament for special protection and tlioy never, would do so woro it not for these never-do-no-work, live-in-clover. agitators, ..wlio gammon them into being discontented and dissatisfied, It is true that many shearers held aloof from this kind of noiisense, but the agitators imported from Australia and elsewhere find a few week-kneed Knights of the Shears who can be persuaded to attend an occasional meeting and keep their pot. boiling, •