THE CO-OPERATIVE SYSTEM AND THE WORKING MAN

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7908, 26 February 1894, Page 1

THE CO-OPERATIVE SYST EM AND THE WORKING MAN

Astiitcmcntlhaving boon made lo the effect tint the co-oper.itivo system introduced by Government costa the winking men of tins colony Gil pov week each, our l'atoa contemporary remarks ; "It is by no means tho working man's share of the cost. Statistics show us that out of tho total population of the colony nearly two-thirds arc absolutely dcponilcnt on the other third forauppoit. Tliia moans that over tho whole colony tho weekly cost of tho co-operative system to tho breadwinner in not (id but Is (jd a week. To go further, the average family of tho married working man is (4 > 13 children ; that means that tho married workman has to pay not sixpeuco, but three shillings per week, an amount which at that, tho average ago of 40 years to the Govornmont lnsuranco Dopartment would keep him entitled to L 250 when he should arrive at tho age of 65, and begin to feel inclined for a less arduous life, and payablo to his family should they bo deprived of their bread-winner at an earlier period. Will anyone tell us it is the duty of any other father earning 7s a day to do« prive himsolf of such a provision for the sako of subscribing to a fund to enable a Government to pay its loafing proltge* 14d per day moro than tho man out of whom the money is wrung is himiolf able to earn. * Sixponco a Meek "sounds a small sum ; but it ia 6d a wcok for tho wife, for tho buby in tho ciadle, and «ach little prattlor round tho hearth. Let the working man nco to it that such a system gets no support from him 5 that none of his ' sixponocs ' a weok shall go to pay a man— even though he ia a fellow workman— Bs 2d a day to .oonstruob useless railways through moro useless country. That a Government must not allow anyono to starro is fully admitted ; but forced works for unomployed should be at such a rate of pay that, while it entirely prevents anything liko starvation} should still bo vory far from offering inducements to colonists to abandon their indepondonce and lean against their more onorgotio and honorable follow- workmen for subsistence."

As ovory thread of gold is valuable, so is ovoi'y minuto of time. Tho world takes from ovon tho most oandid hoart tho freshness of faith and genorosity.— Goorgo Sand. An Amorican mothod of driving tho bot fly larvto out of a horse's atom oh is given in tho Ago (Melbourne) as follows ; (»ivo tho liorso ono pock of raw potatoes onco a week during tho Beason of tho lly. If tho horse is already affooted, griping and biting, ivnd in a condition not able to oat, thon take four quarts o£ potatoes, wash and grato, add a littlo water, and pour down. In ten minutes tho horse will bo ablo to resume work, us tho bot will let go his hold on tho .stomach. Betting is oxtonding its area, says a recent Homo paper. A Primitive Methodist minister mooting & Wesleyan, parson at tho door of Exeter Hall, said, " 1 sco Prico Hughes has his annual ineotings on at St. James's ; he will havo luh muno well blazoned in tho Methodist Times in tho next number." u Oh, no," rpplied tho Wesleyan, "Hughes is » modest man. Ho never advertises himsolf." » Well," said tho Primitive, •• I'll bot you two guineas that Hughes name occurs ab loasb thirty times." "Nonhoiiso," replied tno other, who accoptod tho bot. Whon tho Methodist Times was examined it was discovered that Mr Hughes namo (in conjunction with that of his wife here and there) occurred no less than forty-four times. The money has boen sent for the relief of the oolliors' wives,