The Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1874.] SATURDAY, APRIL 6. 1895.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 4995, 6 April 1895, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1874.] SATURDAY , APRIL 6. 1895.

The .Premier, though possessing good common sense, has ut poor grasp<of large questions, In answer to. a deputation concerning "hoy labour," lie said on Wednesday last, that " Tlie question of apprentices was one of the largest questions that had to be grappled. Under past conditions in the Old Country, there was continuity in the relations of masters and men, generations of employers and employed succeeding each other in the same establishment, and a feeling of friendly interest growing up with them to bind them together. A new order | of things had now come into play, and in many branches of trade, operations were carried on by companies, which had no souls except for dividends, and the old friendly feeling was dead, and really there was nothing for the workmen but to combine and put operation against corporation. As for himself, he would be only too glad to bring employers and employes together, so as to promote harmony and goodwill between them, and remove causes of differences." In this particular question, the Premier fails to recognise that the direct effect of labour laws in New Zealand, as in America, have been to call into existence, "Companies without souls." Even in the town of Wellington, he has had instances under his own eyes, of private employers declaring that they cannot work under the harassing restrictions imposed by his party, and throwing their businesses intp companies, He has armed employes against employers, and jjliereby forced employers'jntq corporations, Now hooomplainsof the. evilof corporations and wants to fur.

ther equip employes against them, aud this is tho Statesmanship we are getting from the Liberal party, Setting class against class, and currying on the combat by Government aid to the bitter end. The old friendly fooling referred to by Mr Seddon is indeed dead, for it has been killed by hiniaud his colleagues, more especially by the Minister for Labour. By stirring up strife the Government have partly ruined the industries of the Colony. Now they propose to stir up more strife, put further strain on the employers, and compel thcmtofurthorraliice wages throughout the Colony. The wage fund of tho Colony lias been thinned down by the Government, but it is capable of further attenuation, and in the coming session it may be expected to he again sweated. In America whorevcr the Government has interfered by labour legislation, big companies have sprang into existence and taken the place of private employers. The same effect from the same cause is coming about in New Zealand, and the working man is being betrayed and driven to tho wall by the ignorant interference of his own professed friends*hnd leaders.