THE LABOUR WORLD.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 14191, 13 October 1906, Page 13

THE LABOUR WORLD.

NOTES AND PROBLEMS. (By JOHN BARR.) In “ Unto the Last,” John Ruskin says :—“Five great intellectual _ professions, relating to 'daily necessities of life, have hitherto existed—three exist necessarily in every civilised nation.’ He proceeds to enumerate them aoid state the functions of each, and deals with our present-day employer after the following manner: ‘ ‘ Observe the merchant's function (or manufacturer’s, for in the broad sense in which it is hero need, the word must be understood to include both) is to provide for the nation.' It is no more his function to get profit for himself out of that profession, than it is a clergyman’s function to got his stipend. This stipend is a due and necessary adjunct, but not the object of his life, if he be a true clergyman, any more than his fee (or honorarium) is the object of life to a true physician. Neither is his fee the object of life of a true merchant.”' Thousands of men and women are at the present, day in accord with that opinion without ever having heard that he expressed. such an opinion. _ Manufacturers and others have carried the false function of getting profits for themselves to such an extreme that their fellows in thousands are demanding that the privilege or duty of providing for the nation should he taken from them and placed in the hands of a council of the people, to wit, the Government. In oilier words, that work of public utility should be nationalised. Were this greed for profit or money confined to the merchants or manufacturers it might have been easily stifled, but the most serious aspect of it is that it permeates ©very section of the community, even our pasters and physicians are far from being free from it. The artisan, the day labourer, each and ©very one, is more or less imbued with the' idea that the principal aim in life is to make money. I grant, there ate exceptions in all sections, but tlie exceptions' are not very plentiful. It constitutes the worst side of ■ human nature, and the pity of it is that it is fostered and encouraged. Through long years of unjust treatment workers are slow to respond to those who may be endeavouring, according to their lights to act justly, Jmt once let them find that they are being considered as beings of the same blood, and, as it has been proved again and again, no sacrifice will be too great. On© of my principal objections to the bonus system in manufactories is that it is an appeal to the worst side of men’s nature. It is lowering and degrading, it brings them to the level of the beast of burden, which is impelled to greater speed by the eight of food kept dangling before him.

A copy of the August number of the “ Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s Journal ” has been, forwarded to me. It contains, amongst a mass of valuable information of a practical character a very interesting article on “'Elementary Agricultural Education in Germany.” by Mr John H. Howell, director of the Christchurch Technical Classes, who concludes the article by stating that it is brief and necessarily incomplete. I trust he will, at an early date, submit to the Board of Managers a copy of it, who - , if they are as livfTa body as I think they are, will get it printed in pamphlet form and circulated broadcast. The following is an,extract from Mr Howell’s paper;—“There are three chief kinds of schools which. give special elementary instruction to those engaged in farming, namely, the farming schools, the agricultural winter schools, and the special agricultural schools. The directors of the farming schools are practical farmers, who cultivate the farms attached to the schools, usually from 300 to 400 acres, as State tenants, hut at their own risk. The staffs consist, besides the director, of an instructor, a- farming inspector, and aveterinary surgeon. The number of pupils at any one school is limited 1 to twelve, the age of admission being seventeen, and the course lasting three years. The pupils work ten hours a day in summer and eight in winter, and are in return provided with board,-, lodging and tuition free. The theoretical course includes the following:Climate, soils, breeding domestic animals, stocking and working farms, keeping books and accounts, German composition, arithmetic, geometry, elementary natural science. In addition the students have practical instruction in irrigation and drainage, in handling and repairing machinery and tools, as well as in all the ordinary operations of the farm.” The writer goes on to state that in Prussia alone “there are no less than 1322 special agricultural schools, with a total of nearly 24,000 pupils, while in the same State there are 118 agricultural winter schools and 26 farming schools.” Yet New Zealand, which boasts of its education, has not made a start in elementary agricultural education.

Of late I have read of a considerable number of meetings all over the country, where resolutions were passed condemning the new Land Bill. The most of these meetings, I am led to understand, are convened and attended by large landowners, and, in some cases, a tenant or two may bo coerced into putting in an appearance. A very popular number for these meetings as three, the chairman, the mover and the seconder of the resolution. The chief merit of that number lies in the fact that the resolution is always carried unanimously. At some meetings, I am credibly informed, the Bill has been denounced as Socialistic. Having pronounced it Socialistic, no argument is required. No one has pointed out to the small farmer that it is his particular Bill, that the cutting up of large estates affords a chance for his son to acquire a farm of his own. It is

not a Bill that would please an ardent land nationalise!-. It cannot possibly result in any great hardship to limit a num to £50,000 worth of unimproved land.

Parents who have a family of boys are, as a rule, much exercised in their minds as to what will be the,moat remunerative trade to teach, them. I believe the number is gradually increasing of those who consider what the boy is fitted for. At present anything with the name “electrical” about it straightway appeals to parents. It is considered that there are many chances of promotion and great scope for a clever boy who is put to electrical something or other. I am afraid, like everything else, electrical work has been overdone, and the whole trade is ruined by a superfluity of boy labour. Added to that, there is a lack of organisation amongst competent hands, which some employers are quick to take advantage of. This matter was recently brought before the Workers’ Political Association, a report haying been made that a firm doing a great deal of electrical work in Christchurch was cruelly underpaying its hands. A committee set up to investigate reported the statement to be correct, but that the firm was keeping within the law, as all underpaid workers wore boys or young men under twenty-one years -of age, only two or three competent men being kept. This wholesale employment of hoys is an old and well-known trick, and is met in. all organised bodies by the limitation clause, which ensures that only a sufficient number of boys compatable with the growth of the trade will be engaged. What is wanted amongst electrical workers is organisation. Not only docs it improve the wages of the employees, but it at all times tends to raise the status- of the industry.

Preparations have been commenced in all Workers-’ Progressive Associations in the city for a vigorous municipal election campaign in April. It is generally conceded ,by workers that the present Council requires weeding out.

All workers did not go- to the Labour picnic at Little River on Wednesday. Yet although all did not go, 3000 was a pretty representation. One of the principal features of the Trade Council picnics, the absence of drink, was again adhered to this year. The carrving'out of these annuo! picnics entails a"very considerable- amount of worry and work on those who, without hope of getting anything but adverse criticism, devote their time to it, and personally, I always feel that the worry would bo considerably lessened if there was a complete absence of hotels from the district in which the picnic was being held.