The Bush Advocate. Published Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1888.

Bush Advocate, Volume I, Issue 74, 25 October 1888, Page 2

The Bush Advocate. Published Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1888.

There have been some queer transactions .-in connection with, bankruptcy meetings, but the " best on record " in the way of -working the oracle has come to light at ureytown. According *to the Star the proceedings at the meeting of creditors of Fabian Brothers, storekeepers, Greytown, border on ;the ludicrous.: ; The, meeting was-;at-tended by the debtors and three creditors, one being a full brother of the bankrupts, and the other two, bosom friends. A solicitor also attended ion. behalf of a, distant firm of creditors. One of ih)e bosom friends of the debtors presided over the select tribunal and the 6,ther two bosom' friends did the rest of the business. "If not strictly impartial,'? writes the Star, the tribunal appears to have been unanimous. The creditors appeared to be en rapport wi|h the debtors, and the man of law Was nowhere. His objections were overridden, his protests were .treated with dire conf&mpt^ and his professional opinions were treated with levity. The three creditors hailed from the same neighborgood as the debtors. The [two bospm}friends represented between them £17 and the brother £313. The firm — Thompson and Shannon — which Mi Beard endeavoured to protect is a creditor to the tune of £297. There existed other creditors, but one is secured, and the other has but a trifling -olaim -against J:he est.atfi Wa have already said that the three creditors from Greymouth played high jinks with the learned counsel and the absentee creditors. Like the witches, in Macbeth, they made good use of their opportunity. Possibly they reflected on the song — When shall we three meet again, ' In thunder, lightning, or in rain ? When the hurley-burley's done, When the battle's lost or won, And that shall be ere set of sun. Resolved to secure the . battle A>r their friends they threw their united influence on the side of the bankrupts. * Not content wjteh* passing a resolution recommending the immediate discharge of. the debtors, they ordered that' tne book debts,,estimated to produce £160, and which represented all the available assets should be " " handed •;•; over to" the debtors if or/ tHeia benefit." The resolution is of so unprecedented a character that it must excite general attention all over the colony. It has been passed in all seriousness by tHree of the leading business men of Greytown. Of course effect will not be given to it because the Bankruptoy laws stand, in the way. But. the question arises — has not business morality reached a decidedly low ebb when, in one of the towns of the "Wairarapa, three business men can be found prepared, in defiance of protests, to recommend that the debts of a firm of storekeepers should be forgiven them, and in addition that tlieir book debts should be handed over to them as a present ? If this is not offering a premium to bankruptcy we should like td '■ know what . it signifies." This is oerfcamly one of the most extraordinary cases that has come under our notice,- and is deserving of the strongest condemnation.

There has been a great deal written lately in the Home papers about the sweating system, and the miserable grinding poverty connected with it. One shudders to read the sickening accounts of the sufferings of the poor people who are ground down by this monstrous system. It was, therefore, a shock to us to see in the Otago Daily Times, of the 20th inst., that this accursed system had obtained a footing in this colony — aye, anji was flourishing,- for inasmuch as in Glasgow, the price paid for finishing moleskin trousers is 2£d each, in Dunedin for exactly the same class of work two pence is paid. We will quote an instance or two from the Times, andleave our readers to judge of the sort of life led by the unfortunate people whose poverty compels them to accept the starvation rates offered them by their employers, who live in fine houses and know not the meaning of the word "want." The first case is mentioned by a correspondent. It is that of a woman with a husband sober and steady, but who had pnly done a few days' work during, the past six months, and with two cbildreß, Q»a 9 faw

weeks old and the other Unable to walk; and this woman had regular Whioh, writes the rimes correspondent, "anyofyourladyreaders . can value. Her work was finishing • Crimean shirts. ; she had six Tbutton;holea^tp niake, seven buttons to sew %n, and, a tew buttonhole stitches to make on the two sleeves and the two laps of each shirt; buttons were found, but the worker, had to^ find h|r own needles and thread ; and what do you think is paid for this •work? Eightpence per shirt—their yaltie! No, eightpence , per dozen ■shirts, and at this munificent wages she could by working her hardest whilst attending 1 to these children, make 4d per day ; with only one child to look after she could make 8d per day, which was all she, her husband, aid two children had to depend upon. Is this work, or slavery ? Other sweaters are magnanimous enough to pay as high as 9d per dozen, but the one in question seems to be a better business woman, and can drive a closer bargain* and is, moreover, the possessor of fine shops and a beautifully furnished dwelling-house." The above communication set the Tpme& people to work and, enquiries showed that the statements were only too true. Other cases were investigated, , ; C>ne> was. < :that of a widow lady who lived in Maclaggan street. She was employed by one of the factories at the work of finishing moleskin trousers for which she received 2d per pair ! On being interrogated as to how many pairs she could do in aday she answered seven ; but she said she had not been long working at this business, and other women more skilled in the work could make more. It was only by hard work — working about 12 hours a day that sh 4 ?' could earn from 2s to. 2s 6d! She would hot have been able to live had it not been that the house she occupied was her own. The factories, too, pay miserably for their outside work, the recognised prices for finishing woollen, shirts, for instance, being Is 6d per dozen, a little more being given for Crimean shirt 9 and the factory finding the thread and buttons. Arid the way these people are ground down to the dust is shown by the following: —A poor woman went to one of the managers of a manufacturing estaVishment and asked for work. The manager said hecould give her nothing to do at that time, but advised her to call again. She afterwards offered to do work at a rate a little cheaper than the o*ther hands employed, so that she might be enabled to earn some money. The offer was accepted, and immediately afterwards the manager went to the other women employed and told them they would have to submit to a reduction, as he could get the work done at a lower rate. The Times has done well in bringing to light this. atrooious system, which should be stamped out as quickly as possible. We should like to see the names -of these managers wad factories given to the world, and if ever there was a case in which we should lite to see the " boycott" applied it would be to the wares of these people, whose heartlessness ,and sordid love of gain, make them inflict untold suffering and hardship upon those who have the misfortune to work for them.

In these times of depression there is at least one thing we can bethank- . ful for, and that is, thai; we are not subject to the fearful droughts that render property, and almost life, uncertain in Australia. Distressing accounts are coming to hand from South Australia as to the state of the crops which are failing for want of moisture, leaving the farmers faoe to' face with ruin. In New South Wales, things are as bad, or .even 'worse; A correspondent in one of the country.districts writes to the Sydney Morning Herald as follows : — "No words could describe the horrors of ,the situation through the whole of this district, nothing approaching it has ever been 'known within the memory of the oldest resident; On all sides is presented a scene of utter desolation, to say , nothing . of black ruin ; and for three blocks of this wretched desert the Government want £600, and yet every improvement has been madeand paid lor by us. The frightful suffering and distress all around us is most depressing, travellers leav-. ing their poor horses to their fate, to a most miserable ending, their eyes being picked out by the crows before they die, and the men themselves having all they can do to get water. Dried tanks, dead and dying sheep wherever you go, and the heat of summer rapidly approaching. If rain does not come soon I can only say God help us, for I don't know what we will all do. The loss of stock between here and the Darling alone must be tremendous, and there is little hope of any increase nest year, as the sheep will not be in a fit condition. The state of the country requires to be seen to be believed." Such a picture as this should make any settler pause ere ho left a country like New Zealand, flowing with beautiful streams everywhere, to take up his abode in a country where often times a drink »of pure water is almost a priceless' luxury.