COLONIAL SKETCHES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 196, 22 August 1867, Page 2

COLONIAL SKETCHES.

II. — THE COLONIAL WORKING-MAN. No one more than our present subject understands the meaning and spirit of Burns's famous couplet, The rank is but the guinea stamp, The man's the gowd for a' that. Independence guides his every action. He is fully aware that his labor is well worthy of its hire, and that that labor, if not fully appreciated in one quarter, will find ready employment in another. The high rate at which his work sells points out clearly to him that, with moderate industry and carefulness, a small competence may be secured to aid him when he begins to descend the hill of life; and should he employ his en- , terprise wealth will not unfrequently smile upon him. He finds before him a wide and extensive field untrammeled by the" competition of the home country. An over-supply of labor has not cut down its remuneration to mere subsistence money. The desert lies before him, waiting but . for his toil to transform itself into smiling fields studded with homesteads. Pastures spread before him their wealth, and commercial channels comparatively untrod invite speculation. Can we wonder then that a very large percentage of the work-ing-men of New Zealand amass large fortunes, when we consider the advantages lying before them ? Need we, after examining the aids w' ich he has had, express astonishment when we find a man, who twenty years ago tended for a mere pittance his master's sheep on the rugged slopes of the Western Highlands of Scotland, living in the West End of London iu luxury and enjoying a large fortune gained in pasturing his own upon New Zealand plains ? Nor need we be surprised to find a carpenter, who no later.them a few years ago trembled upon the approach of Saturday night, lest he shoald be dismissed and have to trudge over London in the vain, search for employment, now carrying on a large business involving the use of extensive crpital, and rapidly acquiring property? Again we have the example of a man, who fifteen years ago was a clerk in a merchant's office, now at the head of a large commercial house, possessing a fleet of steamers and doing more business than labor and capital could scarce have created in Europe in half a century. It may be argued that few are thus fortunate j but these few form a far larger number comparatively than are to be found in any other colony, while nearly the whole with ordinary care may set aside some store to meet the time when the right arm shall lose its strength. Look around upon those who have been for any length of time in New Zealand, anc? you will find that fortune has not dealt unkindly towards them. Many are settled on excellent farms or in the enjoyment of comfortable circumstances. It is true that among the pioneers are to be found those who have not accomplished this; but this sorry effect may.be traced to causes over which they had the control. Let the laborer in New Zealand ; but exercise care and industry, and he need have no feat for the future. , Intellectually the. working-men here; are superior to those of the home country, ':' and consequently as a rule take more iu-

terest in the education of \ their children, and in all institutions -which have the elevation of the educational standard of the colony for their object. Speaking generally in support of this enunciation, we find iu nearly all the provinces a "very liberal and effective educational . system, to which the people as a whole, willingly contribute. Again, in every chief town of the colony we find an extensive and valuable library, partly supported by the Government; and in nearly every village is to be found an institution of a similar nature deriving its life from the same source. And to manage these institutions we find the working-men giving their time and money. In the home country these things are regulated by a class far above them in the social scale, for the laboring people have very little time to spore from needful rest to give to these things even if their inclination led them to do so. The liberal form of the Constitution Act, which throws within the reach of the artizan many representative offices, causes him to take great interest in political matters. He has therefore frequent opportunities of sharpening his wits upon some knotty problems of political economy and undoubtedly gains by the process. Stop by some man who has ceased from his labor to enjoy his bit of dinner, and ask him some questions relative to passing political events. In nearly every case an intelligent answer will ba received, and one which will show a considerable knowledge of the persons in office, and of their past actions. Enter some country schoolhouse where a knot of working-men are electing one of their number. to represent them iu the Provincial Council, and you will hear opinions presented and supported by reasonable premises. This intelligence is again proved in the far better raauners and personal bearing of the people. Pass through a colonial village and no one will notice you, or greet you with an impudent inquiring stare. How different the English laborer's answer to an English tourist when enquiring his way to a certain village "ah can tell ee and ah can pounch the head o' thee," or the hospital attention of the same class, accompanied with brickbats. Nowhere in the world, except perhaps in America, are there so many newspapers published in comparison with the amount of population as in New Zealand; while their quality is not inferior to those existing under more auspicious circumstances. And if their columns be examined, we find the matter under the head of "Correspondence," superior in a marked degree both in intelligence and grammatical construction to that to be met with in many of the London periodicals. So essential indeed to us is our uewspaper, that if we go into the desert to establish a new township we must take the printing press with us. For example, we find on the West Coast of the Middle Island several periodicals published and read where two years ago no soul resided. We must admit, then, from these premises the intelligence of the working class, of the colony, and also that this quality when turned into the social paths of life tends to material progress. Prosperity keeps pace with intellectual development. No State of the Grecian Empire was so wisely governed or so richly cultivated as Attica, and iu none were the people so free and intellectual. Education is the power which has created England's greatness, and as that power has been raised' or depressed, so has her prosperity increased or diminished, What Coleridge says of j of the Universe applies here :— And what if all of animated nature '■ „, ; , Be but organic harps "'■'.: That tremble into thought as o'er them sway a Plastii and vast, one intellectual breeze. In this colony, where education is dominant, all are acted upon by the same breeze, and yield prosperity as it passes; We may therefore confidently rely upon the. hearts and hands of the working-men in New Zealand to create in the future an empire which will not inaptly be termed the Britain of the South. ■