The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verite. TUESDAY, APRIL 24. 1883. CAUSES OF POVERTY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 116, 24 April 1883, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verite. TUESDAY, APRIL 24. 1883. CAUSES OF POVERTY.

Ma joe Atkinson's national insurance schene has directed public attention inter alia to the causes of poverty. We have read many letters m the opon columns of the newspapers on this subject. The question arises why should there be povtity m a young country like this ? Wa^es are high, necessaries are not dear, labour is abundant, and yot m e^ery large and many small centres, is feit the necessity lor charitable institutions. A very sensible letter m the i A ucklaml Herald assigns the real causes of poverty as :— lst. drink ; 2nd. extravagance. The Wiiter proceeds to prove his contention tfius :— " 1 defy anyone to point ov a case m this colony where the man and woman both good managers *nd sob r, and yet industrious (except m cases of prolonged sick* ness) where there is pov«rty. In England many a large family has been brougLt up on 8s per week ; while here men who., gett'ny 30s, will .-ipeud it all.' He suggests as the only remedy for either of these evils is to. tax luxuries, so that we may get into the habit of only buying necessaries. Every work* ing man should save some proportion of his wages, it it be only a shilling a week, but nearly all could save five shillings. Many a man would save if there were a savings' bank m every place that can support an hotel j and the Government would find it to their interest to see that such is the case. Let tbis be done, and luxuries ©r anything that is not strictly a necessary, jewellery included, "be brought to three or four times its present value," and both master and man will reap the benefit. With much ot the above we acquiese. There can be no doubt that to the causes assigned is directly attributable a large proportion of the existing poverty Strange, too, that where wa^es are highest, there is frequently the most extravagance and the most improvidence. Working people come from a land where low wages are the rule, ami finding their services m demand and liberally remunerated, they forthwith launch out into extravagance that at Home they would have considered criminal, and would indeed have found impossible. Extravagance begets improvidence, which leads on to loose habits, dissipation, and finally poverty, and those depending on tbe bread-win-ner have to be supported by the State. !h« masses must be educated to a hip.ber moral perceptive code, and a more dir.ect sense of social responsibility, if we wish poverty to diminish, an 3 thrift to take the pltce of reckless waste and unchecked gratificat on of imptovi dent habits. In this great work philn anthrophists, social reformers, the Pu pit, and the Press can all co-opera t. Precept and example must go hand-iu-haud, and all sects and denominations can cordially unite m an active crusade against those two great evils which are «o pregnant wi& suffering for the human race, fiz,— inteuiperanoe and extravagance.