A HAPPY EXPERIENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCV, Issue 10918, 28 March 1896, Page 2

A HAPPY EXPERIENCE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —I work at grass-seeding every year at Pigeon Bay. 1 work under the same advantages and the same disadvantages as others. I work, weather permitting, eleven hours a day. • When threshing, I and my mates prepare our threshing floor early in the morning’ (which to all grass-seeders is a great benefit), while others are in bed. Some of our tucker is as cheap there as here; some we, no doubt, pay from 5 bo 7 per cent in advance of Christchurch prices. We worked this year on shares; that is, we agreed to cut, thresh, winnow and bag it, then pack it to ’ the Summit Road. When delivered there our contract was at an end. In five weeks we earned, clear cash, £2O each. We jvere idle five days out of the five weeks through ■wet weather. There is no part of the v/ork very hard or heavy, and any man rushing to do a fair day’s work could earn as big a cheque as we did ; but many idle away their time, and you may hear them grumble from morn till night. They seem to waste time in some unaccountable way and put the blame to the ground or the high juices they pay for their provisions. Such men as these never do an honest day’s work. If they would work honestly they would not be so .often around the base of the historic lamp-post. lam not one day idle during the year that I like to work. My acts and experience may be a benefit to others. One part of the year I work in the North Island felling Cush by contract. I and mates earn good money. We would not do so if we cursed the work and sat ddVn beside it. Once a year I come here for a holiday, and I combine with it w’ork at grass-seeding. I ■and my mates always got v/ork when we look for it. We make it pay. We have no need of Government employment. Were we like some we should bo like them, loafing and, abusing the best of Governments because they do not find v/ork for us close to our own doors. I am a workingman ; Ido not write to the papers often; but I hope you will put this in yours, as it may be the means of helping others to get work if they want it.—lam, &e., A WORKER.