DISTRESS IN AUCKLAND.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2871, 8 October 1866, Page 6

DISTRESS IN AUCKLAND.

To the Editor of the Daily Southern Gross. Sir, — It is surprising with what recklessness your Wyndham-street contemporary writes respecting the distress now existing in Auckland. And it is painful to witness the shamelessness with which he imputes motives to men whose shoe-latchet he is not worthy to unloose. Your contemporary, with his wonted garrulousness, endeavours to make his readers believe that there exists just now little or no distress in this city, and that, should any distress exist, it is caused by those who are too lazy to work, who prefer living " on paupers' rations to doing a fair day's work for a fair day's wages." A grosser insult was never heaped upon the many unfortunate unemployed than this. It is a libel upon their manhood, and a heartless infliction of unnecessary pain to those who would gladly do a fair day's work for a fair day's wages, if they knew where to obtain it. If your contemporary would devote a little of his time in visiting the abodes of the poor, he will speedily see enough to convince even him that distress, to a fearful extent, abounds in our midst. My heart has almost bled, at the scenes of poverty and distress I have witnessed. One poor man told me he and his family were "almost clemmed" (starved). I saw them sit to their supper of small potatoes and salt, with only cold water for their drink. They never received "paupers' rations," and I feel sure that they never It is no use, sir, in taking up the pen and writing flippantly that " there is work for all," or that " an Auckland dignitary of the church, just returned from a clerical tour, says there is a perfect cry for agricultural labourers at a rate of five or six shillings a day; or that a "real agricultural labourer can always command good wages andjplenty of work. " No, sir, it is no use flippantly penning such statements as these, for very few, if any, believe them. Where is this "plenty of work" to be had ? Not in the bush, surely, for bushmen are coming into Auckland complaining that they are no longer needed there. Many 'able-bodied men, and men too willing to work, have recently left the city for the bush, and returned dispirited and disappointed ; there was no work for them. Any tyro in the matter could inform your contemporary that 60 or 70 bushmen are sufficient to supply Auckland with firewood, and it is well known that all the mills are fullhanded, and do not require another hand. No man in his senses, sir, believes there is a " perfect cry for labourers" in any of our settlements : the thing is palpably absurd. An advertisement in the Cross asking for labourei's would be responded to by scores of really useful men, who would, eagerly grasp at employment at the wages mentioned. Let the matter be fairly tested ; let those settlers who are "perfectly crying" for agricultural labourers advertise their wants in your influential journal ; and to simplify the matter, let an agent be appointed in. Auckland by the settlers ; and I vouch for it his office will be besieged, immediately on the issue of your paper, by a host of able-bodied men clamouring for the job. The only tangible thing in your contemporary's leader is a statement made by the Yen. Archdeacon Lloyd, at the Diocesan Synod recently held, that "many settlers at Mahurangi would gladly give five or six shillings a day for able-bodied men." The settlers of Mahurangi must certainly know that there are hundreds of men in and around Auckland unemployed ; and if they really required able-bodied men, they would, one might easily imagine, have made known their wants, through the proper channels, long ago, and they could speedily have had the pick of the best able-bodied men in Auckland. Their not asking for these men indicates pretty plainly that they do not very urgently need them. Assuming, however, that the few settlers at Mahurangi do require "able-bodied workers," the number they would require would not very materially lessen the number of the unemployed, or sensibly diminish the distress now so painfully felt in many a household. It is our imperative duty to relieve this distress in every possible way. If employment can be given to those willing and able to work, let every facility be afforded them for that purpose ; meanwhile, let us, as men and Christians, seek out the really destitute and distressed, and, by our individual sympathy and Christian benevolence, soothe their sorrows and relieve their wants. — I am, &c, Philalethks. Auckland, October 1, 1866.