Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1886. SOME "UNEMPLOYED" DIFFICULTIES.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7526, 28 August 1886, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1886. SOME "UNEMPLOYED" DIFFICULTIES.

The problem of how to treat the " unemployed " has many phases, and it is not easily solved. In the first place it may be admitted as a postulate that if a man is in want of the common necessaries of life he has a right to demand that the power of earning thoso necessaries shall be placed within his reach. He may have been improvident in the past, and his present need may be a direct result of his improvidence, but however blameworthy he may be on that score humanity forbids that he shall be unduly punished by being left without common food and covering. But, admitting the principle without reservation, numerous difficulties are found in its .application. At the outsot, one is confronted by the question, who are tbe really necessitous . Is any man who refuses to accept less than the current rate of wages, though he could get work at a wage sufficient to find him in all necessaries of life, to be regarded as a fit subject for relief? Undoubtedly many of tlie "unemployed | are of this glass, and they loudly demand that current wages should be paid by tlie Government for their labor. But we apprehend that no reasonable man will argue that it is one of the functions of the Stato to keep up the rate of wages to what may be au abnormal level. The next difficulty which presents itself is the necessity for deciding whether a man can, without State aid, get work at a rate snllicicnt to provide him with the necessaries .of life.' A man may npt )ie able to obtain such employment nt his own door, but it may be offered fintlier afield. For example, it is said that many men in Auckland could earn on the gumliclds at least 30s a week. In Otago, again, there aye goldfields the richest portions of whicli have been worked out, but where, it is said by competent authorities, hundreds of men could make from 30s'to'£2'a week; On the AY est Coast there aye miles of beach which will yield fair wages. The utmost the Stato could be expected lo do in such cases is to place at tho disposal of unemployed men tlio means of reaching those holds of labor. But whon the opportunity has been offered comparatively few have availed themselves of it, and those aro generally men who aro never heard at "unemployed meetings." Thoso who cry loudest generally do not- want veal hard work, and gum-digging or gold-washing is hard work. Some object to leaving their families. That may be a genuine hardship, but it does not entitle a man to domand that the Wtate shall find him work

at his own door. Another dilliculty is to settle the rate of wages to be paid. Admitting that the work is only offered as relief work— as a stop-gap until the surplusage of labor can he absorbed in the ordinary channels— the distinction which has generally been made between the wages paid to married and single men is justified. Yet another phase oi the problem ip how to get value for even the low wage paid. The " unemployed" do not constitute the pick of tbe labor market, The best men generally manage to rub along without appealing to the State for aid. There may he exceptions, but speaking broadly this is the ease. Consequently the work dono per man is bound to be below the average, evqn if honestly performed. But there are many men who deliberately set themselves to work to do the " Government stroke," and who, unless constantly watched, will not earn half their wages. There are others, more honest, who do no more work because it is of a kind to which they are not accustomed. There may appear no great skill in stone-break-ing or pick and shovel work, but even in these elementary occupations "practice makes perfect," and the practised man can do twice as much work as his unpractised neighbor. The tendency, too, is to reduce all tho labor rendered to tho level of the most inefficient. A., who might in a gang of good workers do a fair day's work, sees that B. does very little, and he, not unnaturally, says, ''B. only does so much, and gets tho same wage ; why should Ido more ?" Tho astounding inefficiency of *•' unemployed" labor received exemplification in the House last session, when it was shown that work tor which £14,000 had been paid in wages was afterwards valued at only £200. Piece-work may be suggested as the remedy. Bnt piece-work lias its difficulties. It is being tried at Dunedin now, and here is one result, as told by a man in a letter to the Dunedin Herald :— " I wns employed until Thursday last breaking stones at the new defence works nt the Ocean Beach, and being a practical stone-breaker, by working as hard as I could, at the price of Is lOd per, yard far 2J-ineh metal,' could make as much as 10s per day. Then, after I -was finished at the Ocean Beach, Mr Cross, the Inspector of * Works at tlie Taiaroa Heads, wanted to shiff me there to do the same work at 2s per yard for 2-inch metal, but told me and my mates' distinctly. that if we made over 4s 6d per day he would lower the price paid per yard, so that we could not make over 4s 6d per day, so we all struck work." Certainly it appears anomalous that a man at relief work should make 10s a day; but it is stated that tho majority averaged only a little over 4s, so that the rate paid could not well be reduced. The action of Mr Cross could only result in the best men reducing their output to an amount which would entitle them to no more than 4s Gd at the contract prices. Yet perhaps even that is preferable to allowing good wages to be earned, as in the latter case the earners would have no incentive to look for other employment, and the relief works would be apt to become permanent. Altogether the question is one Burrounded by such difficulties that hardly any course which could be pursued by the authorities would be free from some objectionable features.