DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume XX, Issue 173, 23 July 1889, Page 4

DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR.

The continued exodus of population must command the serious attention of every man who has the welfare or the country at heart. And while such vast sums are being annually expended in charitable aid, and thousands of pounds in relief v/ork for the unemployed, it certainly would be well if the Government were to consider the propriety of adopting a system similar t° that in force in the United States, and which has been found to answer so admirable that latterly it has been widely extended, and now is a most important branch of the public service. The initiation of the movement of forming labour bureaus in the United States is undoubtedly due to the organisation of the Knights of Labour in that country. Tho third demand made by that order is for " the establishment of Bureaux of Labour statistics that wo may arrive at a correct knowledge of the educational, moral and financial condition of the labouring masses." The American Knights appear to have found it extremely difficult to carry out this almost Herculean task by themselves without assistance from tho State ; they therefore raised a persistent agitation ou the subject, until at last, when their numbers were greatly increased, and the pressure they brought to bear was beginning to be felt, tbe Government of tho United States consented to act in the matter ! and a Labour Bureau was formed. It was, ! however, understood at the time that the various branches of the Knights throughout America should co-operate with the Government and supply all the statistics possible from their different neighbourhoods. To enable them to do this each branch appoints an officer who is called a statistician, whoso duty it i 3 to make full and particular inquiries into the state of the labour market in bis particular district. He is to ascertain the rate of wages, how many workmen and workwomen are in the district, how many widows and widowers, the ages of the parents and the ages and sexes "of the children, how many are _at work and where,the conditions under which they work, the condition of the home as well as the condition of the workshops, the number of the maimed and crippled and the cause of disablement, what amount of food is required each week, and the cost of it, whether tho parents are temperate, and if the children are so, if not to what extent are they otherwise, and what effect has the intemperance of the parents upon the condition of the children.

It has been found that a statistician capable of conducting such onerous duties satisfactorily, is like a poet, born and not made; but notwithstanding tho evidently great difficulties attending the position, the system has been found to work fairly well,"and as time rolls on greater exactness is found in the statisticians' reports and more able men are found to fill tbe positions. Twenty-one bureaus have now been established, and the United States Government, seeing the zeal and energy with which the leaders of the labour movement have taken it up, recently altered the name by Act from Labour Bureau, to tho Department of Labour, placing a Cabinet Minister at its head.

The salaries voted for the department .areas follows :—Commissioner, §5,000 ; chief clerk, §2,500 ; four clerks at §1,800, five at §1,600, six at §1,400, eight at §1,200, five at §1,000, two copyists at §900 and two at §720, six special agents at §1,600, ten at §1,400 and four at §I,2oo,with an allowance for-special agents as travelling expenses. As stated in the new law the design of this new branch of the public service is " to acquire and diffuse among tho people of the United States useful information on the subjects connected with labour in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and especially upon its relation to capital, the hours of labour, the earnings of labouring men and women, and the means of promoting their material, social, intellectual, and moral prosperity. ' This Bill was passed by Congress with hardly any opposition, which was in marked contrast with the opposition made by that body in 1884, when the formation of a simple bureau of labour was under discussion The demand was then granted, not because the legislators thought that bureaus should be established, but because organised labour is more intelligent and knows what it wants better than any other kind; it has a habit of keeping its eyes open to its own fnterests. and as a consequenco its claims £_3 be set aeide unless the best of reasons are given for so doing. Of course, a very small organisation nob B _®ce for New Zealand; probably the whole Er could be worked with little or no cost by tii. co-operation of the local bodies. Our readers will frequently have observed that when unemployed agitations nave

taken place anywhere in this colony immediately following upon them will come statements that in this, that or the other part of the colony labour is greatly wanted and cannot be obtained. Often these reports are unreliable, as many have found to their cost, who have travelled in the direction indicated and. found only that they have been led on a wild goose chase. All this could be remedied if the Government were to set apart a small sum for the establishment of labour bureaus, and place themselves in direct communication with the various labour org-anisations throng-bout; the colony, who would no doubt be only too willing to follow the example set them by their American cousins and supply the department with all and the fullest information. Under such conditions a Royal Commission would not be required to ferret out the evils of the sweating system ; the very names of the employees and the employers would be forthcoming at a few days' notice, and every detail connected with anyone's employment could be easily ascertained. To devote public moneys to this purpose would be infinitely preferable to laying out large sums of money to make show places, interesting to tourists, who may or may not come to take advantage of our generosity.