The Hastings Standard Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 1899. CO-OPERATIVE WORKS.

Hastings Standard, Volume III, Issue 867, 10 March 1899, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Every Evening.

FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 1899. CO-OPERATIVE WORKS.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

We have always regarded the Government co-operative works as a snare, They were conceived for a political purpose, and have been continued to turn the tide, in various electorates, in the direction of Seddonism. But thev are about played out. The taxpayers of the colony are begirning to complain, and the Government _is turning adrift scores of co-operative labourers. The Pahiatua paper, in a recent issue, said :—" We have repeatedly condemned the Government's administration of the co-operative works in this district, and proved that they are costly and useless. We have shown that as many as four roads have, for years, been in process of formation, from different directions, to Pongaroa, but that none of them have been metalled, and that Pongaroa in winter is a term inenrjmta to all but the immediate dwellers therein. W 7 e have condemned the importation of unskilled and useless labour from Wellington and other distant places to the exclusion of the settlers who were enticed on to the land by specious promises of permanent employment on the roads. But all we have said fades into insignificance before the voluntary admission made to us this morning by one of the strongest supporters of the Seddon Government in that district. He assured us with solemn asseverations as to the truth of his statement, that men wero sent from Wellington to the road contracts, and were allotted con! facts, on the strength of which they purchased supplies of stores from the local storekeepers, who, of course, looked to the completion of the contract to ensure their payment. But to the dismay of all parties alike, at the end of the first week these men were discharged without a moment's notice. Several of the storekeepers accounts amounted to over £lO, and they felt concerned about the possibility of getting paid, and regard the action of the Government as tyrancal and dishonest. We have heard complaints of a similar nature time and again, and we are able to prove that they are absolute truth. Our informant also voluntarily assured us that on the road coming in he and his companion saw only two men working on the roads, but to make up for that they met four overseers. This is not one of the innumerable instances of the scandalous extravagances of the exploded system. The Government's strongest argument in favor of the co-operative system was that it enabled the profits formerly made by the contractors to be divided amongst the workers. It is an absolute untruth. It does nothing of the sort. The average wages earned by the Government co-opera-tive laborers is less than half that formerly earned by a good navvy working under a contractor. The contractor's profits go to find fat, lazy billets as overseers for relations of Ministers and sycophants to whom no amount of snakelike crawling is dregrading. Settlers and co-operative workers alike are ablaze with indignation, and no amount of Government euphemism will allay the rage. Nemesis -stands in the stage wings, and at the crucial moment he will make his appearance with disastrous effect.