THE EIGHT HOURS' MOVEMENT.

Press, Volume XLVIL, Issue 7738, 18 December 1890, Page 5

THE EIGHT HOURS' MOVEMENT.

DEATH OF MB S, J?. PARNELL. |?BBBS ASSOCIATION TBLKaEAM.J December 17. Mr a P. Paraell, the originator of the eight hours'movement in New Zealand, died this moroiug to Wβ eighty-fifth year, Hβ has been fifty-one yeara ia the coloay. He will be accorded a public fuaeral, Iα which the various Trades Unions will take ■part. ■•..(.•••:.-■.. ■ ■At a public meeting to-nlgbt It was determined to give the late Mr & D. Parnell » public funeral oft Saturday. Th& oollection of a shilling subscription for a memorial will be gone on with. It ia hoped to obtain £I(M>. Some time ago the Builder and Contra*■< tors' Nevoe (Sydney) published a sketch o£ Mr S. D. Parnell, builder and contractor, the' originator of the eight hours principle in Wellington, whom it designates a» "a benefactor of mankind." From that journal we learn that so far book in colonial history as the 17th September, 1839* Mr S. D. Parneil sailed away from the port of London in the ship Uity of Roxburgh, for Wellington, having paid to 'the New Zealand Company the sum of £123 for two cabin passages (one being for his wife) and land in the new country. Those were not the days of the Suez Canal and clipper shipe, and f aat-travelliug and powerful steamers, and the City of Roxburgh took some five and a half months—and not a bad passage for those times either —on the way. Mr and Mrs Parnell arrived at Fetone, Wellington, which was then contemplated to be the site of the' future capital of the country, on the 7th of February, 1840, more than fifty years ago. Before this time Mr Parnell had given much thought to questions of a public and social character, and among other things he seems to have become impressed with the idea that in the new country to which he was going eight hours ought to bo the measure of a day's work. It so happened that on board the City of Roxburgh had been a Mr G. Hunter, aisp a passenger, and a few weeks after their arrival in the new land Hunter sent for; Parnell. Hunter had brought with him ft quantity of stores from the Old Country; there were : naore stores—lndeed quite a large cargo—coming, and he had nowhere to put tnem for abelter and safety. He asked Farnell to erect a building for him, Parnell • consented, but; on the job he demanded that there should be only eight hours'work per day. Hunter could nob think of buch a thing—it was absurd, preposterous, ridiculous, &cl "There are eight hours for sleep, eight hours for labor, and men do require some, -little time' for themselves, therefore there must be eight hour* foi- recreation," replied Parneil, true to the principles tit his ,laith.J '■•!'-■.';■- /. .■■■:. • . ■ • .

"Pooh, that's all nonsense I You know very well, Parnell, that with us in London when tne bell rang at six o'clock, and the men were not tnere to turn to, they lost a quarter of a day," exclaimed Hunter. .■:-.'■'- :: ~ a '■:■■■ -.._ -? 4 Very well,'? answered Parnell. -**■% have plenty of work I can do for myself, and ii you do not care to accept my terms "I cannot help you," and he turned on' his heel'and walked away. He had not gone far, however, before he was called back. This, in New Zealand, was the flrst strike for eight hours the world had ever seen. There was a difficulty in getting carpenters, as f there were only three carpenters in Petone in work, Ultimately Parnell had to build the store with such unskilled labor as he could obtain, and build it he did. He told hia men, 44 Don't forget that I have bargained lor only eight hours a day; work to begin at eight oclock. Mind you stick to that*' At the Eight Hours Demonstration in Wellington, the other day, Mr Parnell was one ot the occupants in the carriage at tha head of the psoceseipn.