Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1874.] SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1895. THIS UNEMPLOYED.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5034, 25 May 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1874.] SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1895. THIS UNEMPLOYED.

Tni:nK are two unemployed remedies, State-help and,self-help, The first is tho more popular, because it is often speedy and remunerative, but tho second is better for the country, and for men out of work. There is a limit even to Stale-help, and this limit is now being leached in New Zealand. As fast as one batch is relieved a second comes to the front, and if this process were continued indefinitely, all tho unemployed in Australiawouldgraduallycongregate in this Colony. Self-help is a more troublesome, but a much more satisfactory remedy, but if, is one that is unlikely to be generally applied as long as State-help holds out. A private employer cannot afford to givo tho same rate of wages as the Government, which is probably dropping a hundred thousand pounds a year over State-labonr, Hence the unemployed infinitely prefer to look to the Government for work rather than to the private employer. At the moeting held in the Temperance Hall on Thursday Mr Hogg, M.11.R,, addressed thp men in frank and sympathetic terms, but we should have thought still moro of him if he had pointed out to them plainly the advantages of self-help. Even in the present state of tho labour markot sixty self-helping men could be nbsorbed into the industrial population of the district. Take for example one man who suggested charcoal burning as a resort. If that man knowr' , to make charcoal, why does lie not take off liis coat and make it. This industry requires labouv not eapitiil,andacouplo of mon who understood the work' could in a fortnight {urn qut live'pounds worth of oharcoal, and sell if; for cash in Masterton withoutany Statehelp. Hundreds of settlers in thiii 1 district would gladly assist men who ' wero resolved to help themselves. : The truth is that many men wont j try to do this, ; An able-bodied man, ]

reprcßonting himself as an experienced all-round labourer, once applied to us for assistance, and we said wo would try and get him a billet, and asked him what wages ho required. He replied that lie would sooner starve than take less than the highest standard wages, and we wore obliged to tell him tlmt under such circumstances' we could not take up his causo. This sort of false sentiment has been encouraged for the past four years by the Government, and has alienated an immenseaipount of sympathy from the unemployed. A self-helping man would sooner earn Imlf-a-crown a day, than loaf about idling; the State-helping man would sooner loaf about, than work for less than seven shillings a day. Eventually State-help will have to be abandoned, and Belf-help will take its place. At present, Statehelp blocks the way.