PAEROA

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 25, 18 June 1903, Page 29

P A E RO A

The Very Rev. Dean Hackett delivered the first of a series of lectures on ' Capital and JLabor ' in St. Mary's Church, Paeroa, on Sunday evening, May 31. The subject was treated in a very able and sympathetic manner, 'ihe iollowmg report is necessai lly condensed iron* the ' Uhmemuri Gazette ' :—: —

The Dean prefaced his remarks by explaining that LLuie VkCic many conlhctmg opinions spread broadcast nowadays, and many of the -working clashes were in a dilemma as to what \vis the true solution of the labor problem. The head of the Catholic Church had issued an Encyclical Letter entitled, ' The Condition of Labor,' and therein were contained some very ably thought-out and far-seeing conclusions on the many aspects of the conflicts between capital and labor. The Dean pointed out that the Pope was in a position to &jteak with great authority on this momentous question ; the bishops of the Catholic Church were at stated peiiods compelled to pay a visit to the Vatican, and lay belore the head of their Church a complete account of the religious and temporal condition of their people. The Pope, therefore, came in personal contact as it were with governments of the civilised world, surely then he (the speaker) was justiiied in taking the Pope's Encyclical as a basis on which to define his position.

The question was a moral one at bottom. The term

' laborer ' was often interpreted in its narrowest meaning. He would like to make clear that, the term included, all workers — whether they exerted brain or hand For a laborer was really a prodiacer, and as such might be included all who did something that produced. Labor was the creator of wealth, and capital was useless without labor. The mutual relations between the two (the capitalist that employed and the laborer that worked) should then be so clearly defined as to leave no doubit as to the line of demarcation that indicated the rights of each This was an age of great wealth. Labor-saving facilities had resulted in centralising and accumulating large fortunes. The laborer, too, had bettered his condition, and very often the latter had been worked upon by the false teachings of dangerous agitators, who preached of the Utopian era, when all work should cease. It was necessary then to show that there was nothing antagonistic in the relations of capital to labor, or mco \ei sa The Catholic Church had e\er been in sympathy with the masses, and had always endeavored to restrain the clashing of the two — labor and capital — by pointing out the duties of one toward the other, and by impressing upon men the necessity for regulating their actions by the highest moral standard. Greed and selfinterest were as rampant in the world to-day as ever. It was useless to expect men to be iust to one another unless they wore imbued with the highest ptinciples of moiality Thus it was necessary that behind the enactments of any parliament there should pie'vail a deep sense of nicliMclual justice between man and man

Laboi produces all, and had a dignity of its own. Hid noj_ Christ Himself labor. It was necessat y for man to work befoie he could eniov the good things of this earth In working wo weto co-operating with God Himself. Who had cicatod the eaith for man's use and benelit and had said, ' In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat broad.' Idleness was a danger to the individual and to society.

Although Leo XTTT. had not been able to lay down any general maximum wage, his Holiness had spoken with no uncertain voice as to the minimum wage. A worker should be paid sufficient to enable him to proMdc all the necessaries of life both ior himselfl and family . more than this, he should be m a position to haw 'good hou«mg and suitable clothmcr. and was also entitled to legitimate periods of rest and recuperation. ]]o the worker, should also be in a position to^ lay aside fi om his wage, sufficient to provide for contingencies in the shape ol s'ekness and accident, and to make prcmsion for old age Tt might be news to many of those present to know that the Pope had indicated in his letter on the labor question, the necessity for such a tiihunal as sot up by our Now Zealand Government. Cat-dinar Moran had also, on the occasion of the great maritime stril-e in Australia, pointed out tho utility of some court of appeal in the inevitable disputes between labor and capital Tt should bo impressed upon both tho wotkor and omplo\or that their interests were mutual • that 1 etwoon them was a contract that should bo iulfilled faithfiillv on both sides All the legal enactments of Governments would prove futile unless tho actions of men wore governed by moral suasion, and their duty to their fellownian gukUhl by the enactments of tho Creator— the highest of all law-givers.