The Classes.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 386, 5 December 1889, Page 3

The Classes.

(TO THE EDITOR.) Sfß,—Mr Arthur affirmed at his meeting that there were only two classes in New Zealand—one composed of loafers and the other of Workers. And he wqujd have qs bejieve the pry heard at election times about the working tpen’s interest is a mere political dodge practised for party purposes only. This piece of sophistry was endorsed by the pseudo-Liberal of the Central Butchery, who in the very next breath stated that Mr Arthur was one of a class who in the House are Jietened to, Ao. go much lor his logic, which was iio; listehed (o'. The fact is, it is a case of the proverbial red herring across the scent. Such an affirmation is pure nonsense. There ore classes and class interests in New Zealand M elsewhere, such interpsts being widely different. We hsiye read. “ The poor ye have always with yon,*' which is a fact and not a Action, and it might have been stated with equal truth. " The ri'h ye have always with you," which is another serious fact, for both these realities are evils, or rather, I might say, both are the results of evils, and both will idreiy disappear as society becomes ' truly civilised. The richer some men'become, the poorer others often become as a natural eonj«jjuesce, the rich having more than their share, and as a rule they are not content, but are continually trying to obtain more wealth, To illustrate: Mr Arthur is not satisfied with one sheep run, er two sheep runs, but must try to annex more. For sixteen years he has been trying to get a tight hold of a third, but miserably benighted Maoris " (another lnterests also) will not let go their teoHKsd have compelled him to go to great trouble and expense (this kind of thing is what soma people call work), and, worse than all, made Dim go to the length at committing the unpardonable mistake—to put it mildly—of writing to the Native Land Court Judge, who fee poped would assist biqj to get a' good title to number three sheep run. " e ’ “ Fellow working men, think seriously is such I Jh* n • fit »“d proper person to represent pqr interests in Parliament? Ona tbiqg I know, there are man* -of pa who gopld not expect to Obtain In all our days even a 80 acre lot to settle upon,—not to oar a sheep run—but for some such liberal measure as the village settlement scheme; yet this rich man who dojs not hesitate to try to- direct the mevements of the expensive Native Land Oourt because it was of imporunoe to him on account of “ pecuniary reasons ” -to secure possession of an unequal share of the country, asks m, with all the ‘igraoes o! oratory," |nd in a pleasing manner, to place him in a position to 'make land laws for qs and Jpinsel/'i says be does not approve of the State money in establishing village settle, menu, ®r assisting la experiments of that Kind. Of course he does not I Why. that would be assisting the poor I I neyer expected he would advocate such a thing as that I ft is against the rules of some people—they would iuggest that alj the spire money should be ipent in having things made smooth for the rich, The poor have not many needs, and the intermix of the working cfoiMi need not be aonsidered much, It is better to have tbe land settled with ebeep than poor people—that kind are gettihg|td be a puieanca, they actually are beginning to talk about theft rights. What impudence I Say they ought to Work Ims number of hours,.and have higher wages, and in some Mses even say they ought to have a share of the profits produced by labor. What stupendous impudence J And thia all Mmes of education l Educating the yokels in the out settlements i Out down the education vote, says Mr Arthur, ths country cannot afford tospeud so much money that way. Mr Beej thinks differently. The facts are, the rich mm all the good things- Money of course, and education, and mer qlor-' they bull father well, and often U&c bdaeir advantages against us. They pat tbe weak ones (poor Files, so to speak) on the back | that is one of their methods, And although Mr Arthur does not approve ot extending the franchise to women, the ladies of hi. olaM are actively oanvaMing tor him, ■triage anomaly i this) tsganother method.

But pats and smiles are not good enough for us, while all tbe time these people are trying to grab what is of solid value for themselves. And for this kind of thing Mr Arthur would claim for them the title of workers; poor workers, say I. If they want to have a real claim to such a title, let them take a contract for bush falling nt Tologa Bay (a place show, ing tbe rffeot of land monopoly in checking progress), dr tackle a bit of road making, or any work requiring mechanical skill and strength, or go farming, or try their hand at school teaching in the country on £lOO a year

and find your own supplejacks, or try to run a newspaper in tbe Liberal interest in a place where the people are strongly Conservative, Ao.; and then they would understand who are the real workers, and who have tbe best right to be represented in Parliament, and, I may add, who intend to try to have their interests represented this time by voting for Mr Rees, who it is safe to affirm is a worker, and who cannot be justly accused ot a desire to annex an undue extent of territory or wealth, for 1 believe if he had £lO,OOO a year at his disposal

it would be freely spent among the people of Cook County. To sum up, there are o! course loafers and workers of various aorta, There are also the genuine working men, and working women, the rich and tbe poor, and also tbe native race, all these classes—which may be so termed—needing their interests and conditions to be understood by our representative in the Parliament of the country, so that evils o whatever kind, and wherever existing, can ba pointed out, and measures tor the well-being ot all can receive full consideration.—l am, Ac.,

A Working Man.