CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 141, 15 June 1892, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE LABOUR PROBLEM.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—l thank "Sentinel" for his kindly criticism of my letter of March Slsb on the above subject, and you for the space it occupied io your issue of the 4th inst., and which I am now about to trespass upon again to a more limited extent. Thero is one anomaly in "Sentinel's" letter, however, to which I wish to refer. After quoting my suggestions to force or induce international free trade, and a uniform labour-day ; and expressing (as I understand) his desire for ib also, " Sentinel" says " bub the doing of ib — thabs bhe difficulty," and inaptly compares ib to "putting salt on the sparrow's bail in order to catch bhe bird." Thi3 is a coming state of affairs, friend "Sentinel" ; not one thab we can catch, but one we may help to induce. He then gives the very best of all reasons as to why we may expect bhe great and desirable changes, bhe near attainment of which he appears to bo doubtful of, when he states, " The fact bhat there exists au international sympathy, a tie of brotherhood between the workmen of different nabions (that overleaps the boundaries of kingdoms) to sympathise, consult and advise with one another." How could he better describe the growing power that will peaceably, if possible, bub cerbainiy somehow, speedily bring about tho reform of Governments, and through bhem a condition of afiairs thab will absorb bhe whole of the unemployed ? The same international sympathy and tie of brotherhood will also, I believe, ere long become a concrete force of mutual interest, powerful enough and sensible enough bo prevent nabions from going to war with each other at the caprice of kings, emperors, or statesmen, or bo submit any longer to unrestrained commercial competition, which is quite as bad, because continuous and farreaching in its evil effects. • If by an unnatural competition, employers are compelled to run their machinery continuously day and night aba low rate of pay, let them be obliged to employ three or four different sebs of men instead of two sets (if bhey could get them), and all obher employers bo do bhe same, in proportion bo bho number of hours bhey desire their business to be in operation, and thus absorb all the unemployed. The effect of thi3 would surely be a fairer bargain for services rendered, and fewer cases of being glad to accept whatever wages offered. The terriblo and universal distress tor wanb of ernploymenb which is now prevalent compels me bo believe thab tbe bime will soon come when ib will be considered unfair and subject bo penal laws for any person to work for any other a longer time per day or per week than a consensus of opinion, both of representative employers and employed, shall decide upon from time to timo as being most expedient for the welfare of all concerned, and so bhab oach one may have an equal chance of work, and therefore of wages. There would bhen be no need of strikes and Unions, nor should we hoar of bhe curious spectacle of Union men working overtime on our wharves at an extra rate per hour, while obhers who could nob geb any work ao all wero standing watching them, and who would have been glad to have oheir share of the work ab bhe ordinary rabe of pay, but wero prevented by the Unionists.

I am fully sensible of the argument that ib would be a dangerous thing to give more leisure to the working classes ; bub, in the aggregate, bhere would not be more, ib would only be more evenly distributed; and if, ab bhe same bime, the manner in which a large porbion of this leisure should be spent, could be controlled, say, by compulsory attendance at technical schools, lectures, ebc, we should lay hold of means by which the modern tendency to frivolity and larrikinism in so many of our youbh might- be destroyed and gradually uprooted. More than fifteen years ago in England, it was againsb the law for any employer bo allow any half-timer to work for him, or to be on his premises, without the signature of the schoolmaster in a book kepb for the purpose, bhat the half-timer had beon to school on one half of bhe day, \or a reasonable and sufficient excuse for his absence, stated and signed by the schoolmaster, and inspectors were appointed to see bhis carried into effect. Some of bhe time even now ab bho disposal of many of our youth, controlled in such a manner, would be for their lasting good, and for the greab benefit of socieby. I will further try and show " Sentinel" how nations will bo coerced into bhis federation. We cannob expect that British workers and agriculturists will much longer submit to this unfair trading, which forces down their wages and profits. These heavy duties against their goods, and the proposed, bonuses in favour of ours, such as 3d per lb on butter, which the Victorian Governmenb give to. their butber-producers on all.exported butter, and which haa latterly been talked aboub as likely to bo adopted "here—will the British farmers sband this? I fancy nob for .long (any more than would the Greenock sugar refiners stand the importations of bountyfed French sugars). Ib will merely hasten bhe day of fair trading, and which Now Zealand must soon take into consideration nlong wibh bhe rest. Suppose, for instance, thab Greab Britain cordially invites New Zealand to trade on equal terms, is she in a posibion bo do any any obher bhan accepb this offer, if, as a "consequence, it was intended to place heavy duties against our frozen meat, our wheat, v/ 001, dairy produce, etc., etc., and give the benefit of bhe British market to such places as Norbh and South America, the Cape, Australia, Canada, etc., etc.? Or, if some of these stood out against it, would not New Zealand be glad to obtain this exbra share of business on fair-brade terms? If fair trade were adopbed on the basis laid down in my last, the workmen and employers of New Zealand, especially those engaged in manufactures, would be largely compensated for any loss of protection by duties, by the equalisation of bhe hours of labour during which their competitors in Greab Britain and'on the Continent of Europo could carry on their operations. We have already great advantages over all others ab such a disbance from us—a genial climate, and good daylight during the working hours in winter. Much of their material they receive from us, and if they manufacture it and return it here, they have carriage by land and sea, both ways, double insurance, packing, commissions, etc., and a climate to work in that is sometimes execrable. On foggy days during the winter, the gas has to be kept lighted to work by from 6 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., and always for 3 or 4 hours, and often an insufficient supply of gas even, on account of a demand upon thegasworks which bhey are unable to cope with. There is also the cost of steam, by which the factories are made barely warm enough to work in. Surely, then, we should be able to successfully compete with them on fair .trade terms and equal hours, for our own requirements, at

any rate; if not, New Zealand is nob naturally fitted to produce or manufacture any such necessities, and protection, continued under such conditions, would be the eosence of selfishness.—l am, etc., '<-', J.E.T. May 28th, 1892. .'