THE CURSE OF NEW ZEALAND

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1153, 14 June 1911, Page 5

THE CURSE OF NEW ZEALAND

Sir,-The curs© of New Zealand of th present day is the co-operative labour = torn, financially, politically, and socially It is so from a financial point of view because under this system the publi works of the Dominion are costing abou double what they would do if done o: the contract system. Take the ial !y ®5 alone. It is safe to say that the rail ■, construction is costing the countrj (I what it should if dono on the con ac system. The present Liberal party im been in power since 1893—a penod * years. The amount spent in railw-a. construction during that time i» A > < 075. Say the loss bj- the svstem is only one-third, install f ■ (which is nearer the mark), and >mi the enormous total loss to the X)> of .£5 616,658—a sum which I -venture i say would liave of every projected railway in As instances of the waste that is gom, on, take the Seddon-W ard section, p. en ed the other day tiy the Hon. K. M lven zic, Minister for PuWio A\ or^" formed us in a mild and apologetic sor of wav that this section had cost tn country, roughly, about .£IO,OOO per mile and lie seemed so distressed at 1 admit the fact that I really felt quit sorry for him. Now, the who,e at tn line was of exceptionally easy tion, there being little or no brcas.-'ut tings, and the bridging is of the:smalle, and most inexpensive kind. I haje bee told by competent engineers that it conli have been made for five, or, at anyntt >IX thousand pounds par nuL. - ncrain the MMcohme \ induct, on th North Island Trunk. Scott s trader wa mm. Tl,^f" t n ™e !t the tender rSss • fi Tf is =nfe, however, to saj tha. '" COS C" , f sc"tfe' ■tender 1 ™ of the enormous waste tha " ™ S finds it difficult to make tin ailwavs pay Would any member o bn nresent Government, in his wildes nomentf ever think of carrying out an; .rivato work of his own in ♦*» ;ant and ruinous manner.' I >enturo a Tb n ->°number of miles of railway opm« o' "March 31. I®. was ISSG. ai. a. lota ■n-f rf £14 733,1' M. or an average co., :? JE7'in' per mile. Since then, no t< it-arch 31. HlfiT 831 mihs of r»i mVeraee I 'cS' ! t a of 'per rtore than double what our railways cos^ intl dishonesl. What more easy thanh ,se this, vwt machinery h. secure enuro m ° S ,V hill t ift the highest ofnnumerable fat hilleu l ices connected with the ,', vs t „i.j n£r the political sunporters? -Then taking •auk and file. a. corrupt lli.h£i r, ' .MM r three hundred good men and true froir tfter the coming f, lak inp S&ft&eVgt SS. -s:h® U™ « »nnil or, in other words, lt.u &*ter&2F£ iOvernm-ent trj to Diin- j ihvs'cally to the same le\el. This tnej ire fast accomplishing, but as it is of ■our*© impossible tor men. oi w , , lard to rise to the level of high-standard nen, they attain their object by leveHin o hem down to the lowest standard i.e lie incompetent and the loafer. Let me ■xplain tho method: A gang of men is mt oil a railway cutting,, say sis in the ran", at what the engineer m charge 'hinks a fair rate, say 6d. per yard, r irico at which he thinks they can earn Is. per day each (the regulation wages) The men may. be all good men, and a ;ho end of the week they have caincd iav 12". per day. What happens? Hall if the good gang are taken out and three oafers or physically unfit men-are put in ■heir place and the three good men taken mt are put in a gang with three other ~-asters. Naturally they find there is no ncentive to work, as in any case they ,vill'not be allowed to earn more than is per dav. What happens? They loal 'or a' week or so and earn say only Is. jer day; then they complain tliey are not 'etting enough wages, and the P r ico is 'iromptly raised to say Is. a yard. They continue to loaf and earn then; Bs. per lav. Result-general satisfaction all ■ound. The country is paying double the woper rate of wages, and the working nan is educated to be a loafer. And h ; s is the awful part of it—the working nen of New Zealand will fast becomo a •ation of loafers. There is no encouragenent given to a good workman, as he '.annof earn any more than the wasters. A'liat tho country will be like in ten 'ears' time I shudder to think. In my ■arly days in New Zealand, in the eventios, one thought nothing of workng 12 or 1-t hours a day, or longer if leecssary. I have known 'men who have vorkud a reaper from five in the morning ill eight at night, aye, and several limes ;uown them to put up lanterns on tho ior;es and go on till next morning. In he early days there was no such tiling iS hours if thero was work to be dono. ivery man worked hard, and these are he men who have made the country rhat it is. T do not say there are no ;ood men in the country now—on llio ontrary—but for tho most part they are nen. of mature age. How many of the ■ouug men of the present day arc there rho would go into the back-blocks and !o the work that the early pioneers did? venture to say very few.. No; they ,'ill look at no land but such as is aleady made by someone else's industry, uclwith all the luxuries of civilisation lose at hand. Co-operative labour teaches nen to loaf, and what is worse debars he .good man. the energetic and capable ,-orker, from obtaining the just remunertion for his physical powers. This is an njustice and a hardship., Thero are ;on'e who inveigh against the system.of o-operative labour more than the good abourer.

In conclusion, sir, I trust that this subject may bo taken up by a more able pen than mine, as. in my opinion, cocnerativu labour is a gravo mcnace lo the future of New Zealand, not only by squandering its finances, but also by sapping the energy of the workers. And I hope that the subject will be prominently broiight before tlio electors at the next election, and the greatest of all curses to New Zealand wiped out of existence.—l am, etc., H. D. VAVASOUR, Blenheim, January 10.