THE UNEMPLOYED.

Evening Post, Volume XILI, Issue 113, 14 May 1891, Page 4

THE UNEMPLOYED.

I, TO THE EDITOR. j Sir — Jnat a few words, with your kind . permission, from a ratepayer's point of [ view re tho unemployed and wharf labour. i " Mulligan " states most emphatically that . the state of affairs complained of is due to ; the direct orders of the Engineer. Now, I . can't possibly think that a body of shrewd, j hard-headed business gentlemen such as the . Board is compoaed of — men who have been • and aro now, some of them, employers of J labour — would givo thoir Engineer carte | blanche to deal with the labour question in its ( present critical state at all events. As good ) and true servants of the publio, they would [ not do so. My oandid opinion (and lam not ■ alone in it) is that the Board has given tho \ orders to their Engineor, and he, like a good , servant, executes them, right or wrong. He ! is a good man who does as he i 9 told. In | fact, some of these ex-Union men toll me that i Mr. Ferguson has distinctly told them tbe orders are given to him by the Board, [f things are as " Mulligan " states, theu it is a boycott and a " corner " in labonr, and the i. Government and ratepayers' representatives on the Board must be privy to it I suppose next we shall have these ex-Union men saddled on us as unemployed. They inform > me that if the work was equally divided the i Board's hands, new and old, would average i £1 per week during the winter, and they I would not have to join the unemployed; abril1 liant look out truly. Some of the Board's new ■ hands look very capable men, but I also I have seen several poor old fellows working i on the wharf who should, in common > humanity, bo relegated to their night- caps <■ and gruel and a corner cot in the Old Men's i Home. What is tho ultimate intention of i the Board to do with these poor old men P > Possibly they intend to pension thorn, on the > strength of having como to tho " resoue," for ' on enquiry I found they had not grown grey > in the Board's service, but are actually I " green hands." The Engineer is, T under- ) stand, on leave. In " Mulligan's " letter he i states that certain members of the Board > have informod the ex-Unionists that Mr. > Ferguson was responsible for the state of ) affairs. Possibly were Mr. Ferguson here ' to explain, the boot might be ou the other - foot. Thanking you in anticipation, > I am, &c, i Ratefater. i — — —— — i

• A " scene in Court " is thus described by the Sydney Daily Telegraph of tbe 24th . ult. :— The proceedings of the Registrar's ; Court in Bankruptcy, which generally run i smoothly on from day to day with sombre , uniformity, were yesterday interrupted by a , little of that variety whioh tho poot tells us , "is the very spice of life, that gives it ' all its flavour." This sudden change in tbe complexion of affairs was consequent' ', upon tho examination of Arthur T. T. Cooper, a man of Maori dosoent, whose sister is "little blessod with the soft phrase of peace." This lady, Mies Mary Louisa Cooper, vexed at the logic chopping under whioh tho bankrupt had suffered, suddenly rushed at the petitioning creditor and gavo him a sonnding slap in the faoe. Fortnnately for her the assault was committed in the passage outside the Court, and so when tho oreditor returned with an appeal to Mr. Registrar Homy, the latter merely dismissed the matter with a few words of sympathy and a benign smile from beno<ith his goldrimmed spectacles. Perhaps English ladies who start in trado as milliners and dressmakers may find a useful suggestion in an account of the clover advertisement with which a similar business was opened in New York (remarks tho Daily News). The dressmaker hired a theatre, decorated it liberally with palms and flowers and the inevitable amilax, engaged au orohestra, and sent out tiokets for an afternoon performance. There was a orowded audionoe, and the enterprising tradeswoman oame on in a becoming teagown, and leaning in a Juliet attitude over a balcony, remarked incidentally that the price of the graceful robe she woro vcas so many dollars. Meantime the band played " I dreamt that I dwelt in marble balls." Anon the air became more martial. A real live horse wan led on the stage, and the dres*makor mounted him in a woll-cnt habit, after displaying which to the best advantage, she dismounted, and while giving tho animal some sugar, she discoursed on the priots of riding goir. Then, in an afternoon costume, the wont shopping for her andience at a counter piled with the most tempting wares from her own stock, discussing combinations of colour and material with the " sales lady " who attonded from her own establishment. Afterwards, in a ravishing visiting dress, oho paid calls upon the si age, and later on received her frionds in adeleotablo indoor gown. Tbe last soeno of all beheld her in a Paris ball drees, leading forward a- tiny girl dressed in pink, and looking so bewitchiug that tbe ladies ap- ' plauded most warmly, while tbe price of the ' litclo frock was made known by her mother. ' This ingenious mode of advertising is said ' to have led to veiy large purchases.