Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1895. “MUST, OR BURST.”

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 4990, 1 April 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1895. “MUST, OR BURST.”

Each day, as the climatic changes denote the approach of dreary winter, stubborn facts are focussed into an unpromising picture. Whether men's minds are tainted with the prevailing, depression, causing them to look upon the dark side of the picture, or whether the vision is blunted through gazing continuously for the rift in the commercial cloud, it is difficult to correctly judge, but' there is no! obscuring the fact that, rightly or wrongly, tho dominant note is, that-the coming winter will bo a serious time for tlio people of this colony, Day by day, the ranks of the unemployed are gaining strength in new recruits, and tho problem of dealing with these unfortunate people, during tho slack time of the year, is already engaging tho attention of those whose duty lies in this direotion, It is useless to deny the fact that New Zealand is teeming with the unemployed, In the country districts these gentlemen have already begun llioir walking tours, while in the large centres the number of unofficial and unsalaried building inspectors aro said to be plentiful. What these undesii'able.toiuists cost tho land-owners in the country was shown by Mr Buchanan, M.11.R., who stated at the meeting of the Wellington and Wairarapa United Charitable-Aid Board that one runholdci', during 16f weeks, supplied 4127 meals, nt a cost of Gd or 8d each, This is a tax that tho most solvent land-owner in the Colony cannot pay without endangering his position, and because the run-holders kick against the burden they are threatened with extinction, - j

Tho runbplderisobliged togo astep | further,and 'declineto employ men trough thecurtaiWni of his income owing to tlie lower price obtained, for his produce In this endeavour i to live within their means by cutting down expenses to correspond with the smaller incomes, onr runholders are to be punished, The Liberal policy of the new democracy

was mouthed by Mr Seddon in his address at Wangnnui, when he said: " He hoped it was not true that land- " holders were shutting up their es--11 tates and refusing to employ men in " order that they might punish the " Government. If that wore so, and " the people were to be starved into " submission, it was abominable, and " it would bo all the worse for the "landholders. He would remind "the landholders of what " Stephenson said would hnp- " pen if the cow got in the " way of the railway." f hero is a 'clearness about tin's, very unusmil with the Premier, and no mistake can be made as to its meaning. Runholders must find work and food for the unemployed or the Liberals will burst them. There is small choice in " must or burst," but that is all that the social pests of Now Zealand can expect from a Liberal Government. The fever of fabrication has a very powerful grip of Mr Seddon, and the disease shows itself every timo he makes a speech, It would appear from the Premier's statement that the landholders of the Colony were in leaguo to deprive; themselves of the profits of labour for the dubious pleasure of punishing the Government. The landholders are not such idiots, aud no one knows this better than Mr Seddon. But the fabrication helps Ministers to pose as martyrs and thus secure tho sympathy of the mob. The threat to crush the refractory landholder is delicious, and is "a bold assertion even for a bold man, but Mr Seddon must increase in girth considerably to frighten the farming community with such chatter. Misrepresentation and bluif are largely interwoven in the quotation given above, and the Premier appears still unconscious of the fact that tho old Ocarina is rotten, aud the tune it plays is not music.