The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, DEC. 20, 1891.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3035, 29 December 1891, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

TUESDAY, DEC. 20, 1891.

Equal anil exact lusttce to all rai-.n, 01 whatsoever statu or persuasion, religious or political.

Some time hack we called attention to the fact that in some, districts in the South the Government was paying higher fur work:, presumably found for the unemployed, j fcliiin the currcnt rate in the open j market, and that, in consequence, oubiie Ijo/jioa wf>i ,r ! unable to profor cjm'ssary works. mf™ —occvi isfoetnK repeated in . . 3t;ltem^t attri . the North « the , n< U)0 Go . butrd to !\Tr Vickornu. . ac . vernment Engineer, is to be cepted as substantially correct. That gentleman is reported to have Riirl th-if. tlit' men working on the i ii»>:T.sulie. im.-, i' rlif? scuio of p-iy fixed by the Department, were earning 12s per day. The co-opera-tive parti"' it mitnt, lv renifnibored

ure found iu fill necessary material, except spades and picks, so that j no part of tlie 1-s can be ; deducted for outlay on plant and its transport to the scene of operations. Presuming that the ollicers of the Public Works Department are capable of estimating the values of work, the fair rate of wages for a man is 1-s per diem when lucky enough to be employed by a Socialistic Government, whose, theory it iri that the State is bound to find employment for every man subject to its laws. In the case m point, the high rata of pay lixed is a bid for the votes ot the working classes. It will be remembered that the unions during the late disastrous strike placed great emphasis on the theory, which tin y bad invented for themselves, that tlie scale of wages paid by Government fixed the rate prevailing in the open market. The position of the. present Governmentis sucli that they cat! only hope to retain power by pandering to the ignoranceof members, and in this case they have not hesitated to do so, even, though in consequence the funds extracted from the pockets of the peop'.o are only made to secure at most two thirds of the work which under happier conditions would result from a given amount of expenditure. They havo _in their eagerness to please their tyrants gone beyond the charter of the " three eights," which must now be

read eight hours work, eight hours play and twelve shillings a day. Four shillings better than the elysium dreamt of before Mr Balance had control of the public exchequer. If the theory we have alluded to would hold water, what a debt of gratitude would every pick and shovel man owe to Bailance and Co., the premier contractors in the colony. What matters it to them that the firms are liberal with other people's money, and not, like other contractors, depending on the profits of their business for a living. This is the first touch of the brush of the socialistic artists, to whom the people in their blindness have entrusted tho executions of the gr»at political work of art " socialism rampant." This first touch has been so unskilfully placed upon the canvas that it is not difficult to predict that the picture will never be completed by the present artists at any rate. We very much mistake the people, and give them credit for less common sense than they possess, if they do not, at the first opportunity, insist upon the canvas being restored as far as possible, to the same condition as before the political daubers I took it in hand, and further, that I they will send the psuedo-artists back to their usual avocations. The theory of the most advanced socialists, to speak figuratively, has not until now, extended beyond main- ! taining the justice of taking half the thatch off one, man's building to protect from the weather him who has noue. The Government have gone beyond this in the scale of pay they have decided upon for political co-oper-ative works. It is almost to insult a man of common souse with tho most superficial knowledge of the labour market, to suppose that tho injustice to overy man, not a wi-operativo, is palpable. Every shilling paid for public works, beyond what is absolutely necessary to secure their faithful execution, is a direct robbery of the tax-payor. Tho attempt to purchase political popularity by such a means should bo resentod b} - none more vigorously thau by those appealed to, who have been distinctly maligned by the imputation that they are wanting in common sense, it is Buroly unnecessary for us to write more in condemnation of the system being pursued by

tho Government. The fasts are J sufficient.