ENGLISH AND FOREIGN LABOR.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7146, 25 April 1885, Page 4

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN LABOR.

The secretary of the Iron and Steel Institute has been makiDg inquiries^ on the comparative efficiency ond earnings of labor at Home and abroad, and has communicated his views in a paper to the' society above referred to. In a general review of the subject, Mr Jeans considers the position of English workmen to be superior to that held by any other important industrial nation. These inquiries are oil the utmost importance as bearing on the much controverted question of free trade or protection. Such earnest endeavors aro being marie to upset the commercial policy of Cobdon that any facts which would save ourselves or the world in general from serious retrograde movements are of fundamental importance. The average rate of wages in fifteen important industries was shown to be 55a 2d per week in ihe United States, and 30s 15 d in the United Kingdom, 21s 8d in Germany, and 18s lOd in France. In Australia the average was put ab 53s 7d per week, as against 40s in Oan&da. This shows that Australia is a somewhat bettor field for emigration than Canada, especially as the wages both there and in the States are almost certain to go down with the continued inrush of population. This progress will be much, slower at the Antipodes. As to the amount of work done per man, Mr Jeans' statistics bore out the opinion of Mr Braasey, the great contractor, that in work requiring strength and energy such as earthwork, bricklaying, dressing and setting stone, &c, English labor was superior to that of other countries, but the cost per unit of work was somewhat higher. The aggregate earnings of the working classes in 3880 were assessed afc GOO millions, of which only 2-h per cent, could be reckoned ofH for employers. The rise of wages in the United Kingdom has been 40 per cent, since 1850, and even higher in France. It will surprise some to know that of the total population in these islands 23 per cent, are engaged on manufactures— a proportions much in excess of other countries, as in the States it only amounts to 7A per cent, and in Prussia to 13 per cent. Another curious fact was brought out, viz., that the unproductive proportion of the people in the Stateß amounts to Go per cent, of the whole population, in the United Kingdom 54 per cent., and in France and Prussia 56 and 59 per cent, respectively. In Victoria the non-produc-tive portion is put at only 5 per cent., which must Burely be some mistake, unless the number of children, old people and women, is extraordinarily small in the colony. _In a discussion which followed the reading of this paper it was asserted that in the cotton trade wageß had neen to such an extent that employers only now uia^e about 2 per cent, profit ; the hours of labor are less here, and the price of most commodities lower than elsewhere, consequently 20a here would go as far as 35s in the States. On the whole, the general opinion seemed to be that wages in England and elsewhere, but especially in protected countries, must fall considerably, or greater depression would inevitably ensue. From another paper read before the Bankers' Institute recently, it was shown that since 1874 no less than twenty-one out of twenty-four wholesale commodities had fallen in prices, meat being really the only article that has maintained'fcMiigh standard. Thus, concurrently with the rise in wages there has been a fall in food and other prices, so that the laborer has improved his condition whilst the employer has suffered grievously. It is certain that the tension which now exists, and has existed for some years paßt, cannot long continue, and unless the working classes become more moderate in their attitude capital will certainly fiod an outlet elsewhere.