THE PREMIER AND THE WORKERS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12351, 15 November 1905, Page 9

THE PREMIER AND THE WORKERS.

A STUDY IN CONTRASTS. At his meeting at Balfour last week, Mr W. Fraser, M.H.H. for Wakatipu, said they often hoard, from tho nps of the Premier and his supporters condemnation of the bad. old day 6, when men were compelled to work for &s bd per day, and boux> k.tchc.s weje to bo seen on overy siae. Mi , Soddon sad such things were a cruel wrong (to. getting that there were soup kitchens at Dunedin and ChristcuUicn iv lttuo, unuor liis regime), and Wt>uid bo rcp.ateu it tno Opposition got into power, In; caietuliy avoiutu htautig tno wicits. in Itio7 ' tho Atkinson Uovurnment oame in, finding everytliing in a terrible lnuaale utter the uii6nuii.e o ement of the- Grey Government, mo Tioaeury was absolutely dry, aud the interest on loans could not l>e met. fciir ilarry Atkinson w«t6 compelled to go rouna to tho banks begging them tor money to pay the inteitet, and no bhvo tho colony from making utifeuli. The only way to make both eiius whs to go in for rigid economy and retrenchment, end the- Atkinson GoVHrnment faced the portion boldly, tiret reducing the salaries of the Civil borvants, including those of membeio o-f Parliament aim the Ministry. Mr Seddon, as member for Kum&ra, spoke as follows on that memorable occasion, ".Let those who are reeponaiblo to tuo people put hi the pruning knite; and m the exigencies of the cuiony at the present tune, knowing that reductions niujst tiiKe place, let the responsibility .rest v-n the nglit uhouldoits, and that is on the membeie of this ilouse an a whole, and not on the shoulders only of the live or six lion, gentlemen who may happen to sit on tho Government benches.'' That was the view of Mr Seddon, member for Kiimana, in 1887, end c. very proper sentiment to express, but were they the opinions of the Jlight Hon. K. J. Seddon, P.C., LL.D., in lyOo? Oh, dear no. He now said that the whole fault lay with Sir Ilarry Atkinson, and that history would be regoated if the party opposed to the present Government got into power. Mr Eraser referred to other interesting utterances of " plain Mr Seddon " in 1887, on the question of the unemployed. Sir George Grey had drawn attention to tho fact that there wae a great deal of dktress, some men making only 2-s (id per day, while other men wero making 7s. Mr Beddon spoke to the following! effect:—" Those who have been following public works—the trained navvies— got together in gangs, and mado 9s a day et .the price which was fixed by tho gangers. Now, that was not intended ot a!T. What was intended was that there should be two or three trained navvies with two or three artisans, so that tho combined earnings of those who did a great deal and those who did a, | little should altogether make something j like os a day. But I say it is scarcely j fair when men are physically incapable of doing the same amount of work as others that thfy ehould etarvo whilst others ere making good wages. "What was intended was that work should be given at a price at which men should inako not less than 4s or 5s a day, but that they should not be in a position to go and make good wages out of it, for thnt is not work for unemployed at all." All would remember that at that time Sir Harry Atkinson had a task of greater responsibility oast upon him than had been imposed upon a public man before or since, <iml it was unworthy of the Premier of to-day to besmirch his honoured memory. — : : 7~. . ~i