POVERTY IN NEW ZEALAND.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 517, 26 May 1909, Page 9

POVERTY IN NEW ZEALAND.

.Sir,—Never during my. forty years'' rosi- ' aenw .in T New Zealand have I known :tho ;.workor (I mean the genuine worker), to bo in absolute want through lack, of employment ..till, this year... It is true that wo-have had several bad ■ years, such, as 1887, but never the unsatisfied* ory for bread.fhat wo bear,to-day. Our 'Prime' Minister tolls us .in soveral banquet speeches that!it is owing to a world-wide financial stringency. If this was true, why do,we not hear that the.same poverty obtains m 'Australia? Did the Governrnent riot know that"the.completion of the ■Mam Trunk Ime would set adrift something " k0 x "?'? , tholls and; men.on. an already congested labour market?-"What did oiir.Lib,eral.and. Labour Government do to prevent any. hardship occurring' through ", such .'an ?™«nt?f, labour being thrown on the mar- ? i "n ' r , J° s ?P h /Ward's Cabinot-. deliberately flooded tho country with emigrants of the. labouring class, and:thon to make things w n o ''so m tbe retrenchment ! scheme of £260,OUO, another, large number was sent to look for where there was none-to bo not.' If the Government. knew what would' bo tho result .of all their blundering, and as men possessing a . small ■■•.■amount of./common' sense, ..they .should .have ■ known, then their... ■;. action :is .-■ little short of. •■:': crimcriminal. On the'other hand,-"if Sir Joseph' Wards Government did not foresee what everybody ontsido of :the Cabinet did* and had they, a spark,of the patriotism they arc so fond of prating about,, thoy should make; a: manly effort to remedy the'evil, or resign; in a;'body,, and allow better ,men: to t'ako their place. I.am, etc., ■'•'•' "-■ J B ' May 2-1. ; --."' ■ ; ■ ■. ' -'•.■'.: ; '. ' :