CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 203, 30 August 1886, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

Mr Moss at Woodnin,

(To the Editor.)

Sm.—Tbo humane and sensible lettor from Mr'Mojs in your laat issue brings the ''unemployed" question before us again in a very sad shape, and kelps us to realise the alarming fact that while most of our people ore struggling hard only to make "ends meet," those who actually foil out of work have to choose between starvation and a late worse than that of slaves. Wβ know that almond our very existence depends on how we answer the question of the " unemployed," and the futility of our attempts to find a practical answer saddens and paralyses us. Rut really, is it not abaurd thut wo should bo in this position, while "millions of hands want acres, and millions of acres want hands ':" Wo are a practical people, Wo fluttsr ourselves that " practicality " is our strong point, and v/o have a iino contomffc tor all dreamers and non-practical people ; Mid yet, seeing tho pass things aro coming to, and than to get a, fair day's wages for v fair day's work is rapidly becoming "impracticable" among UK, may I, a non - practical individual, " crave uudionco fora word or two, Facts represent idea?, practice is founded on precept, and when tho facts and practice are unsatisfactory, tho ideas and precepts must be questionable. We seem to divide our ideus as wo do our clothe?, into two suitd- one for service during tho week and tho other for Sunday ; but as tho actual world of fact and practico is tho outcome and embodiment of our week-day ideas only, it is these latter that I venture to imliidcpondence, individuality, enterprise, these are tho practical ideas which have been at work for the last hundred years. They wcro rightly held to bo osisntial to tho practice of the week-day gospel of what was called "getting on in the world, ' and it does appear that tho world ha-i " got on." about as fas as it can urider ihose ideas. Now, although it may bo claimed that under tho influence of those ideas we have obtained i uch mastery over the powers of naturo and such material wealth as tho world never s.iw before, yet is our social stato well described as "anarchy, plus tho policeman," and it in evident that with all our "getting on" wo are little, if any, tho bettor or happior for it. There hiiiHt, then, bo something wrong _in the idc»3 on which we work, and, heretic. I as it may sound, it does appear to me that tho ideas ordinarily expressed by the words independence, individuality, and enterprise are essentially evil, because they 'j.;o essentially selfish. Thut ;s tho' ultimate teat. Every idea and action ia more or less good and noble in direct proportion to its unselti=hnee». Tho unselfish ideas of faith, duty, and loyalty kept us from anarchy while they remained with us ; but now faith is eclipsed, and duty has lost half its meaning, while loyalty ie an incrediblo tradition in a Stato which offers to its members in their distress work that Mr iloas says "no Fiji planter, hovQVOi 1 grsedy, would subject hia savage Inland labourers to." It is dreadful tv think of those 140 white slaves in that railway ditch, when, to my non-practical mind, it teems thoy have oaly to shake o(F those misleading ideas of individuality and independence and summon up what remains of faith, duty, and loyalty among them to enable them to solve the " unemployed " problem for themselves, and for all, and for ever ! Iβ it utterly insane to think that they might band themselves together into an " army of industry," and so grapple successfully with tho poverty which now crushes them in dotail? in apite of the sneers and contempt of all practical people, I have faith in this ideal. Wo know the dangers, the rocks on which the venture would be meet likely to be wrecked, but surely, by wis-J forethought, these could bo avoided. If only ihose 140 moD at Woodhill ceuld have faith in each other, and in that "power divine which moves to good," might they not resolve to enlist in Tuch an army, and pledge themselves to devote for, say, the ntxt seven years their whole strength p.nd energy to the task of solving tho problem of "How to employ their own labour and live thereby !" It is a question of drill and organisation, and can it be insanity to thiuk that an "army of industry' could be induced to submit to drill and discipline, to pnable them to conquer the dragons of Want &r:d ilieery, and to create happiness, poace and plenty, when we see millions of the pick of the populations of Europe submitting to all tho hardships of military discipline merely to lit them to act as instrument.; of destruction? In seven years' time what will 140 men havo to show even if timos improve and waaes rise ? Some will have perished in tho struggle for existence—tho bulk of them will just have kept body and soul together, and a few will bo established in eorr.e business or fatm; but uli of Ihom will but "tug a lengthen ing chain" harassed from years ond to year's end by paltry, Foltish cares which seep them constantly btwed to the earth so that they never "see the fun," and never really live in any high and humane senso. Then think of the possibilities of happiness and usefulness that crowd U[,on tho imagination when ono thinks of 140 men voluntarily banded together, renouncing utterly all seU-set-king, and loyally am! faithfully undertaking tho drill and discipline and tuif-dc-nial necessary to enable them to act together as one army, sworn to destroy tho twin curses of poverty and servitude,

I do not attempt to say how this Is to be done. I only say that if those 140 men were shipwrecked on eou:e small island the natural advantages of New Zealand, and had only enough ship biscuit to keep them going until they raised their first crop, J should consider their position comparatively enviable. They are shipwrecked now, in that railway ditch, and their salvation is in their own hands. It lie?, however, not in their individual, but in their uu-elrish and collective virtues.

Ono word in conclusion. }n old times the neoplo in their tro«U!e3 found natural ieadors to whom they were loyal in a way that has become almost incomprehensible to us. How is it that with our crowds of rich men leading aimless, unhonoured lives, not ono comes forward to earn the proudest title a man could have —a leador and saviour of men, a Duke and Captain of Industry, to organise and evolve i he untold possibilities of virtue and happiness lying dormant in the mutinous multitudes now drifting aimlessly in dismal futilities and sour discontent.— Your obedient servant, H.