The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 1894.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 16, 19 January 1894, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 1894.

For tho (lAusa that lacks asaistanca, For the iron; tiisfc oesdi rtsistanc», For tilt futurs In the distance. mi the gtod that ire can do

In our Wednesday evening's issue we gave a summary of the report of the Labour Department for December. The facts and figures supplied by our Wellington correspondent' are exceedingly gratifying. They show that although the labour market is riot yet so brisk as we would like to see it, there are unmistakeable signs of improvement, and,that the worker who has health and strength, and is willing to pujt his shoulder to the wheel, ,need not be long out. of employment remunerativeenough at any rate to supply him and his family : with the ordinary necessaries of We.

A pleasing feature of the case is that, in proportion to our population, there are Jew persons out ot work in New Zealand. This-seems to be a (air inference from the records of the Labour Bureau. In this respect we present a striking contrast to the neighbouring colonies, where thousands of men are clamouring to the authorities for relief. We have doubtless a good many of a certain class in our large cities who find it difficult to obtain work, but this is the case .even in the most prosperous times. There is a disposition shown by many to hang about towns instead of pushing out into the country, and to this cause we may trace much of the poverty that exists in large centres of population. The Labour Bureau has done much to improve this. state of things. It is satisfactory» too, that this has been effected without the Government

having recourse to the pernicious system of unproductive public works. one of, the great benefits;,.-result-ing fromf the Labour ■• Department % that both employers and men seeking' for work are able to obtain the. necessary ' information. We' find that last month out ,of 156 persotis.,whb were, assisted, 72 were placed in private employment. Theresas been some apprehension lately that owing, to the slackness of work on the gumfields, many of the men would find their way to Auckland, and cause a depression in. the labour market, We are glad to find, however, that during last month in this provincial district it was not found necessary to have recourse to Government work for any applicants to the Bureau.

There is another matter suggested by the report of the Labour Department that is worthy of notice. When the proposal to establish a Labour Bureau was first made, a dismal howl was raised by the opponents of the Government. It was said that it would be destructive of self-reliance, and teach men to loaf on the State instead of trusting to individual exertions. We do not deny that the establishment of such an institution was attended with some danger, but experience has proved that it can be worked without producing the undesirable state of things that the Conservative party predicted. It is nearly half a century since Carlyle declared that to find employment for workers is " the question of questions, on the answer to which turns, among other things, the fate of all Governments, constitutional and other —the possibility of their continuing to exist, or the impossibility." Similar sentiments to these were held by the late Mr Ballance, and the industrial crisis that had arisen made it, in his opinion, imperative for the Government to render active assistance in providing work for the people.

In the establishment of the Labour Bureau our Government were not advancing on untried lines. The experience of the United States alone justified the experiment. In 1869 a Labour Bureau was established in Massachusetts, and so successful were its operations that the institution has been adopted in no less than 26 States, Ten years ago a National Bureau was established at Washington, which in addition to the discharge of other functions, has collected a mass ot valuable information respecting the commercial, industrial and social condition of the working classes. Various European Governments have followed the example set by the United States.

In Australia, the working of Labour Bureaux has not been so successful as in this colony. This seems due mainly to the practice of centralisation that has been adopted, encouraging the unployed to flock to the large cities. We have fortunately avoided this mistake. The establishment ot branch bureaux h^s been rendered easier by the fact that we have no great city overshadowing the others. Our unemployed in this colony do not think of flocking to the capital as a matter of course. They generally seek for employment in the chief town of their own provincial district. Even this is not necessary under existing regulations. The police in the country districts are agents of the Labour Bureau, and applicants can obtain ail information from them without the expense and trouble of repairing to town. The good effect of this method of working is so obvious that the other colonies are taking measures to secure its adoption. .