Spirit of the Press.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 422, 13 March 1880, Page 22

Spirit of the Press.

A keex debate on the labor question recently ensued in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, wherein the position taken up by the opponents of assisted immigration was identical with that adopted by the opponents of the system in this colony. A motion was proposed that, owing to the depressed state of the labor market, and the financial exigencies of the colony, all assisted immigration should be suspended during the present year. It was admitted by the supporters of this proposal that New South Wales was not in a worse condition than the other colonies, but they argued that the system of immigration fostered by the State subsidised capital against labor, or, to use a much-hackneyed phrase, the rich man was made richer, and the poor man made poorer, by the constant flooding of the labor market at the expense of the public revenues. Sir Henry Parkes controverted these arguments. He said two doctrines had been preached lately, with neither of which he could agree. One was that the people settled in the colony should let no one come among them from abroad, and the other was that they should erect a stone wall round the colony to keep out the wealth and productions of the outer world. It was absurd to say that no one had a right to introduce labor for the benefit of capital. Labor created capital for its own employment, and there could be no better expenditure of a portion of the land revenue than in improving the land by the introduction of new people, by which every class in the community benefitted. The debate ended abruptly in a count out, but the subject is worthy of notice, as showing how opinion on the question of assisted immigration runs in parallel grooves in all the Australasian colonies. The tone of debate followed by speakers on the subject in New Zealand may be heard re-echoing from New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland. The working classes and their advocates object to the introduction of more competitors in the labor market; the governing powers in each colony hold firmly to the belief that, as a matter of State policy, immigration, under certain restrictions, must be continued, as an essential agency in inducing the profitable emploj'ment of capital already available, and as a factor in the production of more capital, without which progress cannot be maintained. Concentrated to one specific issue the question in debate between advocates and non-advocates of immigration resolves itself into the one wordV —wages. The toilers in the field and in the woi'kshop complain that every additional worker seeking employment not only reduces their own chance of permanent occupation, but brings down their daily wage to a constantly decreasing standard. Capitalists, upon whom labor is dependent, shelter themselves behind the unassailable argument that it is useless to invest capital unless with an assurance of adequate returns. Political economists, holding the balance between two opinions, show on the one hand that a redundancy of labor, like any other excess, is an evil; but, on the other hand, the supply of labor, judiciously controlled, increases—that is, absolutely creates —capital in proportion to the number of workers. It is impossible to produce, either in manufactured articles or in the development of natural resources, without increasing the national wealth. Extended to its full legitimate application the poor man, who lives from hand to mouth, and knows the pleasurable sensation of having more current coin of the realm in his possession than will meet his daily needs, is yet a benefactor to his country in proportion to the healthy progeny he produces, even though in their helplessness they become dependent on the State, and in growing up increase the host in the labor field. Having no capital of their own, save bone and muscle, they yet become, by force of their struggle for existence, producers of capital. It is the bitterness of the struggle, and its long continuance before results are achieved, that causes vain re-

pinings and despondency. Repinings are vain because in the nature of tilings human under present dispensation, there is no millenium, no prospect of cessation from a daily struggle for life, until life itself ceases. The poor man, with his little ones craving for tlieir daily food, finds meagreconsolationinthe assurance that his efforts to keep them in health and strength, so that they may become a sturdy generation, is most praiseworthy and patriotic. He merely craves that his daily burden may be lightened To him the cry for bread deadens all sentiment, and so also when the political economist tells him of the need for more workers in the field to increase the national wealth, he listens as to the voice of the scorner, and pleads present necessities against the probable hereafter. And yet it must be conceded that the present population of New Zealand, supposing there be no drones in the hive, is insufficient for the work to do. There is room in these islands for a tenfold population, and resources enow to give all abundance ; the difficult problem to solve is the efficient distribution of labor force where it can best beutilised. The G-overnment will help to solve this problem if they continue the distribution of the unemployed in localities where some comnaensurate return can be obtained for money expended in the cost of their subsistence. The difficulty heretofore standing in the way has been the question of wages. Any offer of money below the nominal current rates has aroused a howl of disgust, and men clamoring for work have yet avowed their determination to starve rather than take less than what more fortunate ones were getting. A marked change has, however, come to pass. The first step has been taken, perhaps unintentionall}'-, in the adjustment of relations between capital and labor. The offer made by the G-overn-ment of work for the unemployed, at a small rate of pay, was only intended as a temporary expedient, but it has been accepted with avidity, and it may be taken for granted that its effect w r ill be lasting and wide spread. Beduction in the rate of wages, not in one, but in many industries, while giving increased inducement for the investment of capital, will also decrease the cost of living. In other words, each shilling earned will have a greater purchasing power than before, and the daily toilers earning less current coin of the realm for a given amount of work, will find work in the aggregate more abundant, and employment more sure. Capital profitably invested becomes a constantly recurring factor, and an absorbent of all available labor. In a country possessing so many resources as New Zealand, the cry against immigration ought soon to cease, never to be again revived. But for the present there can be no doubt about the wisdom of the proposition to control it by careful selection and the promotion of a superior kind.