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New Zealand Mail, Issue 360, 4 January 1879, Page 15

Notwithstanding that labor of almost every description is so highly paid in the Australian colonies in general, and in this colony in particular, and that consequently the laboring classes, as a body, are so well to do as to enable them to maintain their independence against any attempt on the part of their employers to trench in any way on their rights and liberties, we often hear the murmur of discontent, which in some few instances has broken forth in open hostilities, already indicative that sooner or later the old world struggle between capital and labor will take place in our colonies. To hasten the time of such a struggle is evidently a part of the policy of the present Government, some of its members, but notably the Premier, not being slow, especially in platform harangues, to represent the laborer as being down-trodden and oppressed by the capitalist, and deprived of his natural and inalienable lights by the greed of what he is pleased to call the land monopolists, as if he were a serf to his employer, and prohibited by statute or some other insurmountable barrier from acquiring or holding property in land. We need scarcely say that there can be nothing more absurd, and at the same time more calculated to subvert socicd order, and bring sorrow and trouble on the laboi'er himself, than the fostering of such an idea, because the natural tendency of such a feeling when once engendered will be to create class distinctions, and to set class against class, producing social enmity and trade feuds, where peace, harmony, and the greatest good-will would otherwise exist. ISo close or even cursory observer who looks into the state o£ our society and general opera r ion of our industries, can fail to see that labor, whatever the Premier and a few malcontents may say to the contrary, is a species of capital much in demand, and consequently commands a high price or a fair share of the profits in whatever industry it may be Invested. The importance of labor as an element in national progress, and the dignity that should ever attach itself to that on which the creation of wealth 30 much depends, is far too often lost sight of, both by the capitalist and by the laborer himself, capital in money, without being supplemented by the capital of labor, being useless as an instrument in the production of wealth. Eeyond doubt one of the great fallacies of modern times, especially in the colonies, is to regard manual labor as derogatory to the dignity of well-bred men—a title which all with an ordinary amount of self-respect are bold enough to be anxious to claim. Hence we find the ranks of all kinds of professions crammed, the hangers-on for the Civil Service being

leo-ion. For every post that admits of a black coat, a white shirt, and unsoiled hands, there are fifty waiting for any opening that offers. It is from this anti-manual-labor class that the cry is often raised that they caunot find suitable employment, while our agriculturists cry out for more laborers, our Crown lands remain unoccupied and unproductive, and our mechanical workshops are but scantily supplied. A great deal of this state of tilings arises from a mistaken idea as to the real dignity and importance of manual labor as compared with that of so-called more genteel life which attaches itseli to the various professions to which so many aspire, to the sacrifice of their real social well-being and happiness. Parents are by no means blameless in this matter, as many of them out of mistaken kindness instil into the minds of their children from infaucy the fact that they should aspire to and prepare themselves for some higher sphere in life than manual labor.

That the general prosperity, and hightoned morality of any people are very materially affected by the distribution of the land of a country amongst the largest practicable number of the population, is a fact that but fow are sufficiently bold and unpatriotic to deny. It is, as the history of nations most clearly demonstrates, the great bulwark against the inroads of pauperism, and forms in its operation a grand arena for the development of the social and domestic virtues, without which true nobility can have no exist ence. The necessity for giving the greatest facilities for the settlement of our people on the land has been urged by all thinking men who have taken an interest in the present prosperity and future greatness of the coloay, and "has been regarded one of the foremost duties of the Legislature—a duty which has been not altogether overlooked or neglected by those who have been at the helm of public affairs. Yet we are prepared to admit that much more might have been effected in this direction with the greatest benefit to the people generally. It will no doubt be remembered that the present Government, before and after coming into office, plumed itself on being the champions of the people. It was therefore to be expected that any defect in our land administration that interfered with the opportunities afforded to the laboring classes of obtaining land on the best possible terms, would be at once removed. The land of the country was to be placed in the hands of the people of the country. As an evidence of the great sincerity of their professions, one of their first acts on coming iuto office was to raise the price of land to fully double what it formerly was in all thepoorer districtsof the colony. This was effected by the passing of their Land 3 Bill towards the close of the session of 1877 By this Act the laboring classes in those districts are precluded from obtaining land. In the first place, by the high price ; and in the second place, because the price fixed by this statute is altogether disproportionate to the value of the land available. The Land Bill of the same session that was introduced by the former Government provided that for the purpose of encouraging the settlement of poor men with families in the districts of Auckland and Westland, blocks of land should be opened for occupation without payment. The Act provides that " the area allowed to be selected by each person of the age of eighteen years or upwards shall be fifty acres, and for persons under eighteen years of twenty acres, provided that the total quantity to be selected by any one family or number of persons occupying the one household shall not exceed two hundred acres of land." Five years were allowed for effecting certain improvements defined in the Act. At the end of the said five years a Crown grant was to be issued for the land so selected and improved, no payment for the land being deman 'ed as far as the provincial district of Westland is concerned. No action appears to have been taken by Ministers under this provision ; nothing has been done to assist the poor man to settle on the land. A complaint has reached us from that of the mockery and futility of the legislation which professes to have for its object the well-being and advancement of the laboring man. Land in that part of the colony, vre. are informed, will cost in labor from £4O to £6O per acre to clear and bring into a good state of cultivation. There are many men who would gladly take up laud under the homestead provisions, notwithstanding the great labor of clearing it, if it could be obtained at a low price. Many are now leaving in disgust at having to pay £2 per acre for land which will cost so much in clearing, and which, when cleared, will not be fit for the cultivation of cereals.