CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10971, 27 January 1899, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

SLAVERY OR FREEDOM OF LABOUR AND INDOSTRY-WH1CI1? The claim of the pioneers iit the cause of labour hitherto has been that no man shall be tabooed socially, or bo placed under the ban of the law, because of his belonging to a trado union. This was always the plea of those who sought the repeal of the combination laws. That plea was for liberty to net, not for power to coerce. Unionism is boing used for the latter purpose of late to a degree which is dangerous and wicked. To what oxtont it might be used if the unions, controlled by such men, were powerful enough to exercise their authority, especially if they had behind them the sanction of statute law. which the new leaders invoke, it is not possible to conjecture, but we can have some faint idea from what has taken place, anil is taking place, in various parts of the country. Law and liberty ought to exist side by side, tho former protecting and guaranteeing the latter. When the two aro divorced, law degenerates into tyranny, and liberty into license.—Vide " A l'lea for Liberty," p. 140. TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—The abovo is apropos of the present unsatisfactory industrial position in New Zealand to-day. During the last fortnight there have been several meetings of the Chamber of Commcrco and Auckland Employers' Association, held at the request of, and in conjunction with, some of tho manufacturers, who intend to resist the efforts now being mado to prevent them from buying free mon's labour in tho open market. Both of those organisations deem it unjust to non-unionist workmen, and prejudicial to trade generally, that employers should be obliged to engage members of trade unions in preference to non-unionists. They even contemplate an appoal to the Privy Council; for although the Conciliation and Arbitration Act deprives them of every Court of Appeal whatsoever in the whole realm, the party in power has not, fortunately, been ab!o to doprive them of a right of appeal to Her Majesly-in-Coun-Is it not monstrous that merely because trado unionists are organised, and can thus vote en Woo at the ballot-box, the party in power should have bo utterly sacrificed nonunionists to them? But it shows what combination, can do; and as all the trade unionists in New Zealand only number about 13,664, including boys and girls (see Parliamentary paper No. 2, Legislative Council, 1898), and the non-unionist* number about 133,822! (see Government Official Year Book, 1897, page 111), it stands to reason if the non-unionists will combine, they can secure '. (ho political justice which is now denied them ' merely because they are unorganised. _ This result is just what tho unionists aimed at? For instance, Mr. J. A. Millar, tho labour leader in the strike of 1890, and now an M.H.R., long ago recognised the fact that 1 tho Government and Liberal party would yield only to self-interest and pressure. In • his labour manifesto, published in the New Zealand Herald, December 26, 1892, he I said to trade unionists:-"As you make, so ! you can unmake, and you will find that by kcopiug tho Labour vote solid outside of Par- ■ liament, its power will become so recognisable that in the end men seeking its suffrages will find it pay muoh better to reflect its wishes than to betray its cause. ' Needless to say, that cause at present is tho ! oppression of non-unionists to coerce them ! by starvation into unionism, whioh is as ' vioious a piece of tyranny and political crime ! as some that blackened the 16th century. _ i What is the object of trade unionists in . thus selfishly sacrificing non-unionists'( It is , to drive all men and women into unions, to . make a gigantic monopoly, and then dictate ' to society at large, as they now dictate to ' free labourers. Cannot Mr. Seddon and his '■ party see that? No doubt they do, but if the ' employers and society generally are so en- ■" grossed in personal gain, or private ease or • pleasure, or aro so paralysed in pluck as not • to take an interet in directing the political - and economic forces in operation here, Mr. t Seddon and his followers will simply continue to offer up the requisite sacrifices for trade I unionists, who do take such interest and I keep him as high priest in power. If non-unionists combine and prove su--3 preme at the ballot-box, then those now in 8 power, who sacrifice free labourers to union--8 istc, would, to get or retain power, even turn • round and sacrifice the very men for whom '" they have so basely and so long prostituted <■ ethical.and political principles, by making a t law whereby employers are prevented frcm II a free choice of buying men's offered labour. i j It is -truly deplorable to think that at- , I tempts should be made to bring men o I into subjection to unionism by starving the . I wives and children of these men. It is as ," I ingenious as cruel. Few men can endure '■ | the sight of their wives and children wanting l " j food. It was a punishment inflicted by per--5 secutors on Christian martyrs. " But the worm is beginning 'to turn. Why e should 133,822 non-unionists submit to the is tyranny of 13,661 unionists, even though tliej

be aided and abotted by the Government? I That Government is merely a committee of | management, elected by the people. The people can make and unmake any Government. If free labourers or non-unionists will combine, as they have already done in England, they can soon put a stop to this cruel tyranny, sanctioned by statute law. j It is grievous to think that men and women I should no sooner get the combination laws ' repealed than they turn round to abuse their i liberty by oppressing and enslaving their i fellow workmen, like the unmerciful servant ; of sacred liistory. It is deplorable not only becauso of its in- : humanity, but because it will, 1 fear, bo a serious blow to trade unionism. Heaven for- ! bid that capitalists should ever again have the unbridled power to oppress which they had before manual workers combined in unions. Labour seldom got fair play. Labourers were oppressed with compulsory servitude; their wages were fixed by law on the margin of mere subsistence; they were restricted to small particular spheres of work on pain of imprisonment; were branded with hot irons or had their ears bored through for running away from cruel masters; their children wore chained to their work; single women were made to work as justices directed on pain of arrest; at the Peterloo massacre men, their wives, and children were trampled to death under horses' hoofs for demanding Parliamentary reform; and all that was in free England, and some of it was in this very century! Trade unionism is an excellent thing when legitimately used to assist the sick and to help poor men to withhold their labour—the only commodity tlioy have to sell for a living—until they can get a fair price for it, and to cope with the combination of employers. But if trade unionists in turn become tyrants over their fellow workers, if unions become mere political organisations, capturing even the machinery of Government, as they have dono in New Zealand, they must be met by a combination of free labourers.—l am, etc., F. G. Ewingtox. SCHOLARSHIP MONOPOLY.

TC THE EDITOR. Sir,—The Board of Education, at its meetng yesterday, affirmed by resolution that all uccessftil competitors for scholarships shall twelve the amount of the scholarships only o long as they continue their education at he local Grammar School. Here is an eximple of a monopoly of the most dangerous ;ind. Tho facts, briefly stated, are: At the recent enior scholarship examination two competing from King's College, Remuera, secured he fourth and fifth places, thus gaining a ligh position amongst those who were entitled 0 hold scholarships. The principal of King's college thereupon applied to tho Board, revesting it to approve of lung's College as i school which these two successful comrctitors might attend and receive the emolunents of their scholarships. Tho Board has a icrfecl right to grant this request under secion 51 of tho Education Act. Moreover, as ho Grammar School is not under tho conrol of the Board," it must have, or ought o have, such approval. Why, then, is tho principal of King's lenied the right of continuing the education if his successful competitors (ho asked for m more) at the institution where they were prepared so successfully? Tho answer, I think, is to bo found in the fact that somo imateur lawyer— Cooper and Reed !vcre absentgratuitously informed the mombers during the discussion on the subject that to grant such a request would bo contrary to tho Act. Advice of this nature often leads to wrongful acts, as it did in this case. To grant such a request is in accordance not only with tho letter, but also with the spirit of tho Act. as can be seen by anyone who will read with attention sections 51 and 38. If the Board of Education had an Auckland high school under its control, then it could rightly decline such a request, but otherwise it is in duty bound to grant equal privileges to all properly-equipped secondary schools. Doubtless the Board has erred through want of knowledge, and at its next meeting will redress the wrong it committed at its last, will abolish monopoly in scholarships, and will encourage lawful and healthy competition.— am, etc., A. McAkthoe. ALLEGED WASTE OF WATER IN PARNELL. TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—ln your issue of the 24th inst. appears a report of the last Parnoll Borough Council meeting, at which tho turncock informed the Council that a waste of water had been going on at mv house at the rate of 6000 gallons per diem, and in another column you state that " tho value of the water thus wasted would amount to £900." Kindly allow mo space to show how absurdly exaggerated both those statements are, and to give the true facts of the case. On June 15 last I entered into possession of tho house I am now occupying, and on the 17th of the same month I reported to the town clerk at Parnell that a leakage was taking place, and requested that the matter be attended to at once. This is admitted. Within a day or two one of the Council's employees arrived on tho scene, and after examining the cistern from which the water was escaping I was informed that the overflow was perfectly natural, and that thero was no occasion to trouble about it further. _ I thought this rather strange, but, not being an expert in these matters, I accepted his opinion as correct. However, I again called the town clerk's attention to the fact, and in duo course another of tho Council's employees visited the premises, and he stated that he did not understand the work, and that it would require a plumber to effect the necessary repairs, and I was given to understand that a skilled workman would bo called in. But this was never done. The matter was frequently mentioned, but until a week or two ago nothing was done to stop Now, let mo show how utterly unreliable tho turncock's estimate of the quantity of water wasted is. Ho first reported to tho town clerk that the water was running away from my premises at tho rate of 9000 gallons per diem, but when he discovered that the total daily consumption by the whole 100 houses, including my own, attached to that particular main was only 8000 gallons, he saw that his calculations wero somewhat wido of the mark, and altered them to suit the occasion to 6000. Had he taken the trouble to look up tho records ho would have found that he was almost as much at sea as ever, for on August 12 last a test was taken from ten p.m. to six a.m., to find out if the consumption between thoso hours—when only a small quantity should be used— unduly large— remit of which showed that during the eight eight hours mentioned 850 gallons passed through the meter. Now, supposing that the whole of that water was accounted for by the leak at mv house, and not a pint was used by the other 99 houses (a most unlikely thing), then he could only make it up to 2550 gallons per diem, for it'must be remembered that this leakage was going on at the same rate day and night. Whoever made the computation showing that 6000 gallons per diem, at la 3d per 1000 gallons, for six months, would amount to £900, must have been about m well up in his multiplication table as the turncock, for, as a matter of fact, it only comes to £58 ss, a small error of £831 15s in £900. The total cost for the borough— houses-is only about £500 for six months. In conclusion, I may state I am in a position to prove that the waste was going Oil tor many months before I went into the house, and although I seem to be tho only person who has called the Council's attention to it, I come in for all the blame. 'Twas evei thus !-I am, etc., A. E. DAbct.

OLD AGE PENSIONS. TO THE EDITOII. Sir— The manner in which applicants are being dealt with makes the name of the above Act a misnomer. It should rather be the "Old Ago Pauper Relief Aot." A pension granted by the Crown is usually for services rendered in earlier life, and when the person arrives at a certain age, the pension becomes due and payable irrespective of the financial position of the party. It must be admitted that those who have been here for the time specified in the Aot have rendered great service to the State, and if, by reason of old age, they are unable to earn a living, they should be provided for. The only tests should bo (1) good character, (2) length of residence, (3) inability to earn a bvmg on account of age. If these were the only testa there would be nothing repugnant to the most refined feelings in applying, and I do "of suppose that the cost would be much more than was anticipated when the Act 71 TheTresent mode of dealing with the matter will certainly have the effect of transferring names from the books of the Charitable Aid Boards to those of the State, but the oW people who are most deserving will shrink from going through the ordeal necessary to enable them to participate in what should be the most beneficent law which has ever been placed on the Statute Book. The Act, I assume, was intended for the benefit of the deserving rather than to relieve the Charitable Aid Boards, but has been framed in such a way that those parties, or many of them, will rather starve than take advantage of it.-I am, etc., W. MAT.