Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1874.] MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1894. LABOUR UNIONS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4874, 12 November 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1874.] MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1894. LABOUR UNIONS.

IfOBB years ago wlien a strike on a considerable scale was attempted in Now Zealand and failed, it was held by Unions friondly to tho demon, stration that to ensure success it™ essential that all labour should hi enrolled, In a country like tin's i is impossible to make all workinj men members of Unions, but if i were so, the end sought to b achieved would never be gained The utmost Trado and Lalrau Unions could do would be to drav into their ranks all the labour ii the Colony, and if this were done i is curious to notice what must inevi tably follow. The effectiveness of: strike depends upon the amount o capital possessed by the Unions am the time it would last. If a thou sand men were called out, and tin fund were sufllciont to enabto then to stand out for three months, i would, at the end of that period becomo exhausted, and tho mei would have to return to their em ployment. If two thousand mei were called out tho fund would onl; enable them to stand at bay for si: weeks. Four thousand men couli only remain idle forthree weeks, am a general strike of, say, fifty thou sand men could not/ last two days The largor the dimensions of"; strike tho shorter must be its dura tioii, so that nature imposes insup erable obstacles to any strike, of a: universal character. A genera strike is impossible, and a partia one can only be maintained by capi tal. In a Colony liko this, compul sory arbitration or compulsory con ciliation is unnecessary, There ar natural limits which are much mor efficacious and trustworthy. Trad Unions are powerless to permanentl raise wages above tho point t which in time they would ris naturally, nor permanently t keep them above a point to whicl they would naturally fall; the; may- perhaps hasten tlio rise o retard the fall and this is the utraos they can do for labour. The rea bono for labour in Now Zealand lie mainlyneitherinTradeUnions,\('liic! are powerless to increase the genera wage fund, nor in a Governmen which can only tax the many forth benefit of a few, but in the abilifr and enterprise of Colonists to. opei up new labour channels, whether ii the bush or in mining pursuits or ii manufacturing industries. ,It is,em ployors of labour in New Zealani that need encouragement, men witl brains and capital, before one p: these oan njake'a 'thousand' pounds for himself ho has to spend from fiv<

Jto ten thousand .pounds.- on labour. I Therefore such a man should be en : , couraged to make'athousandpounds for himself. : ;.•■- ■'■ ' .•■: ■•'

I Mb :S^ijjuijj ( an pltj : tjnie Liberal, 111 ir Sneqplj'dpivn ;S.qnth'(ntiniate.d. that during the late general election ft number of juembors. gn,ve Wi'itton

pledges of support to Mr Seddon, mid that it was the possession of these documents that enabled the Premier to catty'tinners with suoh a high 'baud—altlipugh perhaps low hand might be a more appropriate termdurimr the late session. This, perhaps, is Hie most shocking example of legislative depravity which has yefc been witnessed in this colony. It is pitiful to contemplate representatives of the people tied hand and foot after this fashion, compelled to vote' when called upon quite irrespective of their own opinions or consciences, In old times, a conquering hero would be rowed in his barge by slaves chained to the oars, and this is very much the position of Mr Seddon and his faithful followers who were bound by written pledges Ito do his bidding. And this is the stage to which Liberalism has been brought in Now Zealand!