INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1844, 30 May 1885, Page 3

INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION.

Sib Julius Vojbobl, -;,on the tion of his late * speech at Duuedin (writes "Coloons" in the Otago Witness), seems tohavje been surprised , and nonplussed j&s sroUvni^ wigjvt be, at one of the questions put" to "him, namely, that of the poor sempstresses, who say they, the c "finishers," only get lfd per tiour, or Is "9d per day of 12 hours, and asked if something could not be done to stop the importation of article^ that can be made here. This seems \t liio a truly painful reveTationr It w'3oplofabTo that in a eountr/lifca fflfcft flowmg milk and Mney^ there/shouldrbiJa-class of people m miserably underpaid as in thickly populated countries of the northern hemisphere, and- that Iloofl's famous "Song of the Shirt" should be neSrl^il^appliGable to DunediKiSs- it is to great'llondon. How to remedy such an evil is a truly peri>lexiug • question. It would not' be well, to introduce into this colony the vicious and pernicious "protection to native , industry" policy. The adoption of such a course would probably oventually do more. harm than good. Let ub in this respect follow* iShe- good' example of the Old. Country, have ftbaokte*f'Ueetra4e,-aud fall, into the .^or" J df*j?Qu\^ of : the , colonies*; Human beings^sliduld"be t bi < ctWreri'all . the world over, but a protective policy ijlsMjlib.Jfntagouistie, and. immieal td^thefpeoee of all mankitii.^ I am atlaiCevei Mr Bradshaw will, 'iii this else, f e ujjable to afford relief to the pS>r #mi§tresses. There must be a Emit Ib Stttte action. Curtailing the hourat oC labour was a tolerable e%tenSon£>e State action. We cannot Vfry force by law ©|fiplb;<rei'& to pay mdrc tp* those the/ einplqy tn%n they^feeHHissposed to do. H se#is that there sfouif be% . o^si oj^jp^lo *o much Sde#»ii'lnmß>'M»rts.ji)e, wage.« M taome Mf^^ilM^ !^S h&Xf «Banleylre^i^i^^a^PK $ laggi of^i^^l|o®pc^ "aatl 3u«#ol® serTft^ii - : - i^f lear* . very Sfideit Mr^ : Hef^|v : panalea f^r all industrial €eprfeVßion-r---the nationalisation of the landq-will not cure the social evil of*B6me people being forced to liy^,or v dip s on starTation wages in towns." Laiid monopoly is no doubtr serious evil, but ifc is questionable whether a more equitable division -of -the land will have any very considerable effect on the *% huge evil of the oxcessivc poverty of the masses. Though tjioro. .are many - " larg«r estates in New Zealand than is desirable, still there is as yet a large amount of land open to purchase by small capitalist* ; yet with all ouv abundance of land our Bmall community ia subject to the scandal of of people beiug so wretchedly 6 iftidi*i>awl « "tig -<s^esp. ; poor ; ,. se.mpsrate a 'cheering reflection that the condition of the poor is attracting more attention in these days than it formerly did, aud that r/of ; late, years there seems to be a more than: ordinary development of human sympathy. In London there has lately been ' ; a great meeting, where speaker» ( of various yiewß expressed their opinions i!^&#&inicat>le manner on;* the, subject of industrial deprension. That is better than attempting to solve the ' -4*aq]>tem QfrPW^ v dynamite^