The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 1890.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2766, 5 April 1890, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 1890.

Equal and exact justice to all men. Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

Tiieiie is one phase of the question now occupying the attention of the Labour Conference nt Berlin, which merits some little consideration— that is the effect it is likely to have upon tlie industrial future of England. According to the latest advices the proposed reforms will if carried out merely have the effect of placing the continental operatives upon the same footing as that occupied by their fellow-workmen in Great Britain, which by the way is anything but pt-rfect. Long hours and low wages in conjunotic* with England's Free Trade policy has in the past enabled foreign manufacturers to undersell her in

her own markets, causing in some cases a partial, if not total abandonment of certain; branches of industry, thus throwing many hands out of Employment, forcing them into competition with operatives in kindred industries, and glutting to excess an already congested labour market. But with the adoption of shorter hours and higher wages - amongst the continental operatives, we have every reason to hope that England will quickly regain her old supremacy as a manufacturing country, and notwithstanding her self-imposed handicap of admitting foreign goods duty free, while her own exports have to bear heavy duties in foreign countries, she will thus be enabled to compete successfully in her own markets—if not in those of other countries—with French, German, and Belgian manufacturers, and a new era of prosperity may safely lie predicted for the industrial interests of England. How far the present labour agitation in England may militate against the revival of trade, that must inevitably follow the inauguration of shorter hours arid higher wages amongst her Continental competitors, remains to be seen.

But as the right of labour to a fair share of at least the common necessaries of life, with a little leisure for recreation 'and ] mental improvement is now becoming pretty generally recognised, we may safely assume, that every improvement in the labouring and industrial classes in England will shortly be followed by a corresponding movement across the Channel, so that England may oventually benefit by any amelioration which takes place in the condition of the industrial classes of the Continent.

Owing to the spread of education and the rapid growth of intelligence amongst the lower classps in Europe and other parts of the world, Labour is beginning to understarid and realise its power, which, it is to be hoped, will be well and .wisely used, and the direction of which into safe and legitimate channels lays an enormous responsibility upon those who are taking leading positions in this foremost question of the day. The Emperor of Germany, no doubt, recognised the gravity of the position and the necessity for dealing boldly with the demands now being made on behalf of the labouring and industrial classes; hence his action in connection with the Labour Conference lately sitting in Berlin. It does not require the gift of prophecy to foretell that tho day is not far distant when the rival claims of capital and labour must be fairly and honestly dealt with, and finally settled upon a firm and equitable basis, and though hardships, heart-burnings and annoyances may be involved in the process, the ultimate issue must be a vast improvement in their mutual relations, and a great advance in the social and general welfare of the race.