The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1894.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10310, 31 March 1894, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1894.

All the colony has a deep interest in the present depressed condition of the kauri gum industry, and ought to make its voice heard in the discussion of proposed remedies for that untoward state of things. The gam deposits are a national asset, and they provide an outlet for unskilled and unemployed labour from all parts of the colony, lienee it is no mere local question that the Trades and Labour Conference has been discussing at Auckland, though the gum-fields are confined to a limited area of that provincial district. The colonial im-

portance of the matter is more apparent when we come to consider the legislative and other remedial measures suggested, for these involve considerations of tariff, land settlement, public expenditure, financial policy, and even international comity. Surely the evils are great indeed when such sweeping means seem necessary for their removal. The lot of the gumdigger ia at no time an enviable one. He lives in barren wilds, far from home comforts, and is the prey of a villainous “ truck ” system that robs him both as producer and consumer. Hia work is arduous and its rewards uncertain and meagre. But when, ia addition, the price of his product suddenly depreciates by about 50 per cent, and the fields are “rushed” by hordes of Austrians and other aliens, the gum-digger’s position becomes well - nigh intolerable, and no one wonders that he should demand alleviating legislation. Matters have truly come to a desperate pass when, from the fields that have hitherto been a refuge for the unemployed, there arises a cry for relief works. The G-overnmeut would have been less than human if it had disregarded the urgent appeal to save men from privation and suffering. But while we approve of the prosecution of public works as a temporary expedient, it is evident that something more is required—something that will strike at the root of the evils and extirpate them. Among remedies that have been from time to time suggested are an export duty on gum, the exclusion of aliens from tb© gum fields, free grants of land to encourage gum-diggers to settle, a Government gum-buying and exporting agency, a license fee for diggers, and legislation to abolish the truck system, which is carried on in spite of the Truck Act. The Premier very promptly and wisely set the stamp of disapproval upon the proposals regarding aliens and Government agency. Any attempt to apply differential treatment to aliens would provoke a conflict with foreign Powers, and the Government could .hardly start buying gum unless it

wag prepared to become banker, money-lender and export agent for all producers. The experiment of charging a license fee has been tried and has proved thoroughly unavailing to restrict the number of diggers. Of late, too, the idea of an export duty on gum has been abandoned, because, though it would undoubtedly tend to reduce the output and maintain the price of gum, it is feared that under prevailing conditions, the digger would not benefit to any appreciable extent. The Trades and Labour Conference has adopted resolutions favouring the substitution of a “royalty ” system for that of rent, license or permit; approving of gumdiggers being encouraged to settle on the land; suggesting that no person should be allowed to dig for gum who has not resided for six months in the colony; and also making a general recommendation that diggers should be free to buy and sell where they choose. It was not, perhaps, to be expected that the conference should work out the details of those proposals; but, still, a little reflection is sufficient to show that moat of them are altogether impracticable. How could the amount of a gum-digger’a earnings, for example, be ascertained with a view to fixing the royalty he should pay, if he was at full liberty to sell his gum wherever he chose? What would be satisfactory evidence of six months’ residence in the colony? A simple declaration on oath would not exclude a large body of immigrants, and if, on the other hand, legal proof were required, many persons who have been in the colony half a lifetime could not easily produce it. Owners and lessees of gum lands would bitterly resent the attempt to set up what would he practically a Fair Rent Court for gumdiggers in the. shape of a royalty charge on the produce. As for Ihe abolition of the “ truck ” iniquity, that would undoubtedly relieve the gum-digger, but it would not solve the question of the future of the industry. And even on the subject of “truck,” there are difficulties of detail to be confronted. When the Truck Act was before the House, several members attempted to got a clause inserted that would have given gum-diggera the benefit of its provisions ; but the House was timid or ill-informed, and failed to carry out the proposal. The problem is how to protect men who are not employes. It is difficult, though not impossible, of solution. The proposal that facilities should be given for gum-diggers to settle upon the gum lands is, of course, thoroughly practical. But will they settle, even if they get the laud free ? The soil that bears gum is usually of the poorest and hungriest description, fit only to produce fruit, and that under the stimulus of costly manure. It offers but slight attraction to the man of nomadic habits, who likes to have ready money in hia pocket. We fear that no land policy that could be pursued in the far north would relieve the congested condition of the gum-fields. So far as the present crisis is the result of over-production, it can only be relieved by measures that would withdraw large numbers of men from gum-digging. So far as it is due to industrial depression in England and America, causing a slackened demand for gum, the cure is altogether beyond the reach of the New Zealand Government or any other agency. Only one suggestion remains, and that is that the Government should resume possession of all gum lands and manage them under the scheme for relieving the labour market, of which the State farm for the unemployed is an important branch. In that way the number of men employed and the quantity of gum produced could be regulated so as to prevent a glut in the market and a disastrous fall in prices. The evils of the truck system could also he completely eradicated; a national asset would be conserved; and the influx of aliens would naturally cease when it became known that the gum-fielda were no longer open to them. We are fully sensible that the idea is somewhat revolutionary; but it seems to us that some scheme of this kind is the only alternative to a continuance of the system of unbridled competition and freedom of contract which has reduced the gum-digger to semiserfdom, and well-nigh rained an important industry j

This Wellington journalist who a fow months ago lashed himself into a fury of virtuous indignation over the assumed brutality of public school teachers in North Canterbury must now be experiencing a revulsion or feeling. The occasion of his diatribe was a resolution by the North Canterbury Board of Education, forbidding the infliction of corporal punishment on girls and defining and limiting the severity of the chastisement that might bo dealt out to boys. We_ took some pains at the time to impress on tho Wellington critic that our teachers were no worse than those, of other districts, and to expose the fallacious assumption that brutal punishments were common in North Canterbury. Our arguments were, we fear, at the time thrown away; but the logic of facts mast now have driven them home. Wellington has had a mild scandal arising out of complaints regarding the beating of a girl by a school-teacher, and now wo learn that the Wellington Board of Education has issued a regulation very much on the lines of that which was recently so adversely criticised. This regulation provides that girls must on no account be beaten by school teachers; that boys are to be whipped with a leather strap, by the head-master and only in extreme cases, and that a record of the punishment must be kept in every case. This ia even more sweeping than the North Canterbury regulation, which makes no proviso about “extreme cases ” and casts no stigma on the fairness of the teacher by compelling him to keep a record of the flagellations administered by him. The Wellington Board has not, apparently, defined the material and the maximum size end weight of the strap, as is done by our local Board. We have no desire to turn the frenzied rhetoric of the journalistic critic against the Wellington district*

or we might proceed to denounce the brutal cruelty of the Wellington teachers in habitually flogging girls and boys with whips and scourges, so that it became imperatively necessary for the' Board to restrain their unbridled ferocity, and prevent the mutilation and torture of tender children. The regulation is a wise and proper one, which ought to be «dopted by every Board of Education, if only for the sake of assuring parents that no little tyrant of the school can torture their children, and of impressing upon teachers that they have no excuse if they transgress against such plain directions.

A maidun’s tf NO ” AND “ TBS.”

The Wellington incident, in which a bride nonplussed the wedding party and a crowd of spectators by answering “I won’t” at that part of the marriage service where she wae expected to say “ I will,” is sure to be seized upon as a proof of the growing independence of the New Zealand woman, which will be assumed to be the fruit of her recent political enfranchisement. In the absence of details it is impossible to say what reason, if any, lay behind the unlooked-for action of the bride in putting a stop to the marriage ceremony on Thursday last. It might be no more than a desire to bring the bridegroom " to his senses,” or to wring some concession from her father in the shape of marriage portion. It might, on the other hand, bo based upon a doubt as to' the legality of a marriage solemnised in the afternoon. Whatever the objection may have been, it was apparently removed, for the coy damsel satisfied everyone concerned yesterday by giving an audible consent, and the ceremony being concluded before midday there cannot be a shadow of doubt as to its validity. If the bride's object was to emphasise the fact of woman’s absolute freedom in the matter of the bestowal of her hand, she must be satisfied by the publicity that has been given to the incident. But the incident shatters one more idol by utterly disproving the assertion that a woman’s will is inflexible. " A woman will, or won’t, depend on’t. If she will do ’t, she will, and there’s an end on’t.” That dogmatic utterance must now go the way of so many other exploded dogmas. Wo may conclude that if woman is becoming more independent because of her improved social and political status, she is also becoming more reasonable, and is learning how to retire from an untenable position without lose of dignity or self-respect.

The iniquity of " robbing a poor man of bis beer** used to be the moat telling argument that could be ad* vanced against temperance reform of any kind. Events have shown the argument to be based upon a fallacy, eince it has been found as the poorer classes obtained a voice in legislation the growth of temperance sentiment has been much more rapid than before—-or, at any rate, there baa been more decided expression given to that sentiment. Not many people yet realise how intimate is the relation between overwork and indulgence in alcoholic stimulants. A large amount of beer-drinking has been the result rather than the causa of poverty. This is proved by the growth of temperance habits side by side with the redaction of the hours of labour and the general elevation of the working man. In Indus-

LABOUR AND LIQUOR.

trial districts of England, where the eight hours system has been introduced, numbers of public-houses that flourished under the old system have had to close their doors for lack of custom. It was no vain hope which was expressed lately by Mr John Burns, M.P., in addressing a meeting of five thousand Government employes at Woolwich, when he trusted "that increased leisure would tend to the demolition of the damnable collection of drink shops which stood between them and their work.” The cheers that greeted his remark proved the men to be in sympathy with it, and Mr Burns, emboldened thereby, closed his address with the following peroraration" Men of Woolwich, I have earned the right to speak plainly to you on this point. lam sorry to say we have not got to fear so much the machinations of our employers or the indifference of the Government, but worse than these is the coquetting of the forces of reaction with the betting and gambling which are eating the heart out of Woolwich and Pluuatead and the labour movement everywhere. I hope the Eight Hours Day you have gob may lead to the abolition of drink and betting, and to the extension of the brightness, contentment, peace and happiness of every artisan’s home in Plumstead end Woolwich.” The English Trade Unions are negotiating with the different railway companies with a view to the running of excursion trains that would enable working men and their families to spend their extra hours of leisure in a rational manner. Mr Burns’s remarks on gambling ought to be laid well to heart by working men everywhere, who must not suppose that they improve matters by relinquishing the vice of drunkenness in order to indulge in the vice of betting.

A cablegram in to-day's paper announces tho dis« covery of a valuable coal eeam in New Guinea. It is but a few days since we learned of tbo finding of a most promising coal seam in the Taranaki district of our own colony. These reminders of the existence of vast stores of mineral wealth in unexplored regions of these Australasian dominions ought to stimulate inquiry as to how these deposits, which are as truly national property as is the surface of the coil, can be conserved and worked in the interests of the people as a whole. In New Zealand nothing whatever has been done in that direction. There is no doubt a feeling that nothing can go wrong Bines the State can at any time exercise its right to resume possession of coal-producing lands and carry on mining operations. It is, however, a mistake to allow vested in« terests to obtain a hold, and to allow private capitalists to draw dividends by exploitation of the coalfields, more especially as they could not possibly do so apart from large expenditure of public money in the construction of railways, harbour works, &c. la this connection it is interesting to note that Mr E. Price Williams, who is now in New South Wales on behalf of an English railway syndicate, and who is a coal-mining expert of tho foremost rank, intends discussing with the colliery owners of New South Wales tho best means of developing their properties. Mr Williams favours State ownership of coal measures rp well as of railways. When in Wellington a few weeks ago Mr Williams was shown the results of tests--of different varieties of coal conducted on the New Zealand railways, and ho was much impressed with the value of tho Westport coals. He is satisfied, from 6 Twitpaldto OoUingtrood, the souther*

ova COAL MEASURES.

ehora of Cook Strait, that there ara coa deposits on the hilltops there of quality similar to the coals of New South Waits. Mr Williams also informed ft Weiliji"ton reporter that the New Zealand coiF measures are not being properly developed, »nd as he anticipates that this colouy may yet be called upon to supply the English and foreign market with coal, ho and others are willing to find the man and money necessary for the proper working Of our coalfields. To reconcile this offer with our visitor's views in favour of Stata_ ownership of the coal measures, it must Kja presumed that ho does not boUeva'in* State working of the coal mines. If bo, we do not believe any proposals he may make with regard to our coal deposits have any better ohance of adoption than have his schemas of railway construction on the modified land grant system.

The manner in which the the crime English courts continue to of home- deal with persona charged LBSSNES3. with having “no visible c means of subsistence” is a disgrace to civilisation. Mon who tramp the country seeking for work are flr»t of jill denied employment by farmers, and then handed over to the tender mercies of a local .Beach, upon which the squire and vicar are pretty certain to ‘be found seated. A returned colonist from Canada, named John Sully, was L-ooently, as wo learn from the West * Somerset Free Press, sent to gaol for seven iaya for seeking the shelter of a haystack m a bitterly cold night in December. It j[waa stated, by way of aggravation of his J 'offence, that Sully had been in the habit !of “ sleeping out,” and had on one occasion slept so close to a lime kiln as to scorch hia clothes. A still worse case was tried about six weeks ago at Lincoln, when Thomas Eindley, a labourer from Liverpool, who had been caught in the very act of making up his bed alongside a corn-stack about half-past four on a winter evening was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment with have labour. One of the magistrates who sentenced this unfortunate man was the Rev H. W. Hutton, a canon of Lincoln. Surely Mr Hutton had forgotten for the moment that the Master of whom ho is a professed follower “ had not where to lay His liead.’ The treatment of notnadio wanderers by English landholders is in marked contrast, with the attitude of the majority of settlers in New Zealand towards the ’‘swagger” in search of work. The typical New Zealand farmer or pastoralist gives every wanderer the shelter ot a roof forth© night, and a hearty meal to help him on his way. At ono station in South Canterbury about twelve hundred “ swaggers ” arrive every year, and are all treated to a “shakedown ” and a mod of potatoes and mutton, and we know that there aro other places throughout the country where the facta of homelessness and worklessness are cot looked upon as evidences of crime requiring to be punished, hut of misfortune, calling for active sympathy »nd help. Our land-" lords,” unlike those of England, are alive to their duties as men toward their less fortunate fellows, and our magistrates (who'are never by any chance clergymen of any church) when oa rare occasions called upon to pass judgment on men whose only offence is “ stooping out,” never impose vindictive sentences that would outrage public opinion. Long may there bo this absence of class animosities in New Zealand! The poor we may always have with us, but there ia no rosson why wa should send them to prison.