THE RATE OF WAGES.

New Zealand Mail, 27 August 1902, Page 54 (Supplement)

THE RATE OF WAGES.

This subject has afforded matter f,» dispute from the day when first W mail hired another, and will prohah} 9 continue to do so until we have T 7 veloped into creatures as unlike we are now as our present state i* -V like that cf the jellyfish. And stripped of sentiment (with which n lias really nothing to do), the case • simple enough. The labourer sells hi, labour for the most money he can JT for it and the capitalist sells his monel for tlie most, labour he can got for n the natural rate of wages being f oun J midway between these two antagonist forces. But many will not have it so importing into tlie argument all S orK of irrelevant considerations. a

It is the custom of a certain Loudon merchant to refuse an increase of salal* to an employee who presumes to as’for it, regarding any such reemest as impertinent, while those who don’t ask he says don’t need it. That merchant . is difficult to deal with; yet there is a ' way to deal with him and his like. The employee who is full of energy, with a thorough mastery of the affairs entrust-* ed to him, will never want for employment and fair play. V\ nere one employer will let him go, ten others will be eager to grip hold of him. for there are none too many of his kind. Where are such men scarce ? . The answer is ready: Energy can eo-exist only with health. _ Take the case oL Mr August Jansan, of Karabury Station, near Hay, N.S.W., an unquestionably industrious man who used to be laid aside from time to time- Writ in ou January 20 1902, Mr Jansan says:° iO . wards the close of 1899 we had extremely hot weather in this part of Riverina, day after day the thermometer registering lOOdeg to 102 deg Falir. in the shade. My occupation (tnat of station carpenter) compelled me to spend the greater portion of my time exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, a fact to which I attribute my subsequent sufferings. The first symptom was a sensation of sickness at the stomach on rising in the morning, and a distaste, almost amounting to a loatliing for food of whatever kind. Then I became alarmed by ac-ute pains in tlie region of the heart. The bowels, too, were very irregular in tlieir action, extreme costiveness alternating with violent, purging. I could, not eat, and for want of proper nourishment became so weak that I could hardly stand. Frequently I had to lay up entirely, neglecting my work for days at a time. “Each week marked a Change for the worse in my condition, and to my other symptoms were soon added sick headaches and terrible pains above the chest, all of which made me nervous, low-spirited and irritable. After ineffectually taking as much patent medicine as would fill a sheep tank, I placed myself in the care of a doctor tv ho informed me that I was suffering from acute indigestion, and that my nervous system was shattered. He attended me for twelve months, at the end of which time I was worse than when I first, consulted him. Although only a little over fifty years of age.' I felt like a worn-out old man, and had not the strength of a ten-year-old lad- I began to think I was beyond the aid of medicine, when a friend of mine, who had used Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup, with much benefit, persuaded me to try it. I agreed, and found relief from almost, the first dose. By tlie time I had taken two bottles I knew that I was fairly on the road to health. My strength returned much quicker than it had departed. Before the sixth bottle was emptied I was restored to a thoroughly healthy and robust condition. I could eat, sleep and work without distress or even, discomfort. It is now six months since my cure was completed, when I gave up takiug the Syrup regularly; but, as a precaution, I still take a couple of doses every week. Many other persons in this district have taken it on* my recommendation, and in no case has it failed.”