THE UNEMPLOYED.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 32, 6 February 1894, Page 4

THE UNEMPLOYED.

From every part of the civilised world come distressing accounts of the state of the labour market. We too, in New Zealand havo had, and are still nob free from, a similar depression, to thab which exists in other countries, and although the phases of the labour difficulty here are nob to be compared with the terrible aspects it has assumed elsewhere, still our troubles have taught us to appreciate more deeply those of others. When we hear of those armies of unemployed in America, in England and on the Continent of Europe clamouring for work in order thab they may even gain a bars subsistence, and in most cases being unable to obtain ib; when we hear of multitudes of strong, willing- men, with their wives and families dependent on them, compelled to wander'aboub foodless and often shelterless in a climate, the severity of which makes adequate food and shelter infinitely more indispensable than it is here, we cannob help comparing the.lot of those among us who are so unfortunate as to be classed as unemployed with thab of ttnir brethren who are similarly situated in the older countries of the world; and a8 we make the comparison we feel thab there is a much greater need for our sympathy to be expended abroad than at) home. Indeed, although we sympathise most sincerely with those

who ara honestly anxious to obtain work 3 and who cannob gob id, in some instances in connection with the "unen ployed" problem in these colonies v have been conscious of impatience rather than sympathy. We musb confess to a display of th« former feeling on reading a cablegram from Adelaide a day or two ago, in which it was stated that a deputation of the unemployed there had been offered work at stone-breaking by the Premier in order that they might get rations, and had ridiculed his offer as i insult. Surely their condition could tiott have been one of very dire distress when they could afford to treat the suggestion e£ the Government so Bcornfully. No one will pretend that stonebreaking is a verf 1 pleasant occupation in itself, and it is tree that ib has associations connected with it that might render it still more uncongenial to sensitive minds ; neither were the tera of remuneration proposed very tempting;. but, as a temporary relief, neither tl labour nor the pay were to be despised is the high-handed manner adopted by tl Adelaide unemployed. It is really more the manner of the refusal than the refusal itself that excites one's impatience.

One would pardon men for remonstrating against an unpopular occupation which, on the terms proposed, could yield them jb mere living perhaps, bub ib is somewhat difficult to pass lightly by the spirit in which the offer of assistance was received, It is unfortunately a spirit which seems fa be spreading in these colonies for some " time back, and has, the other day, found ita most pronounced expression in the Anti-humbug League of New South Walesa The object of this somewhat curiously named organisation is the union of the middle and working classes with a view of compelling the Government of the day to protide work at current wages for every male and female able and willing to ; earn an honest living. That ib is a hard thing —. a very hard thing— that those who are ready to labour should often be prohibited by present social conditions from doing so, and, consequentlyi° condemned to semi or entire starvation, is felt by everybody. Thab it would be an excellent thing if so much of this waste labour could be utilised, is also plain. Bub whether, as the State Socialists contend— and they have the opinion of many great authorities' on their side—the regimentation of this labour liea within the sphere of the Government, has not yet been demonstrated beyond dispute. At any rate the European statesmen of today do not see their way to do it. Is id likely thab the Anti-humbug League could V offer'them a scheme? We may be sure that if its practicability were made evident ib would be eagerly adopted. But, pending such a scheme, it is foolish and unfair to other members of the community who also feel the pinch of commercial depression, that the unemployed should approach the Government in the extravagant spirit of the Adelaide men and refuse to take up work on terms a little lower perhaps than those many who are now toiling from morn till eve can command.