WORK AND WAGES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXI, Issue 7228, 30 April 1884, Page 6

WORK AND WAGES.

TO THE EDITOE. Sib, —After spending many years in this Colony, I fail to find that the labour question has been fairly argued out on a just basis. Amongst your many readers, a few will no doubt give ear to my own experiences of 20 years’ residence. For a long time I have contended that the horny-handed sons of toil get far more in proportion than other men, whose lot was cast in early life in a higher sphere. Take a few examples. The son, or sons, of a gentleman in the Old Country come here seeking employment. Many have cost their parents or guardians from .£IOO to .£6OO, to give them a good education. Say many amongst them were in employment at Home, on salaries varying from £SO to ' .£3OO a year. When they arrive here, do they rise in the same proportion as the ordinary labourer? I say no; work to many of them is scarce, and they who are fortunate enough to obtain employment must accept far less than they were justified in calculating on: the £SO men may get £75, or, at most, £IOO, and the intermediate men in .the same proportion, and though they must keep up a respectable outward appearance, still their advance does not amount to more than 25 or 50 per cent. How is it with the other class ? Why the labourer rises from an average wage at Home of Is 6d to 2s per day to 6s or 7s here, and even Bs. Tins, you see, means a rise of 300 to 400 per cent; but his education cost him little, if anything. Now, I admit that some 15 or 20 years back an intelligent farmer could purchase good land in Canterbury at £2 per acre, and elsewhere at less; so you will perceive he had a prospective value of his land of from 300 to 1000 per cent by the progress and general advancement of the Colony, and although wages were high to him then, still the labour added a large increase to the value of his farm. But we cannot argue on the same grounds now, when (even in the present dull times) the intending settler must either go very far back and get inferior land, or else buy from others at a high rate for good soil. If I say he elects to rent, he must then pay a comparatively high rate for a good farm —and, remember, without the increased prospective value (as specially applied to purchase); what, then, do we contend ? Simply this : That the farmer, with low prices and uncertain seasons, is not able to pay the usual rate of wages. Why then should not the labourer be satisfied with what wage the farmer can pay P Meat has been very cheap; bread cheap, and clothing much less than former years; Ids power of locomotion is increased by milways, bridges, rivers, and better roads; his climate better, and more enjoyable to work in; and his hours comparatively shorter. Is, I say, the producing community to suffer, and he not ? He who, in many cases, left his native home of misery and distress—l ask, is he, and he only, to be the man not to suffer here, or deny himself : cries ? Surely reason and common sen -:ay not. He brought no capital to lose, and still grumbles the most when anyone dares to suggest that his high pay is to be lowered. I have looked well, and thought well, and must say that he and his family have been extravagant, when others more genteel than himself, with a - good grace, gave way, and denied themselves many comforts their station in life entitled them to. I can assure your readers it was only by care and often self-denial that I can now meet these dull times, and having worked side by side with the homy-handed under various circumstances, both wet and dry, in open plain and bush, I do know that freedom and fore-thought will enable the rightthinking man to save from his wage in

this Colony, and tide him over dark days and times which happen to every community. I apologise for the length of my letter, but hope it may set the unwise athinking to amend thoughtless ways in the past.—l am, &c., AN EARNEST COLONIST.