THE TRUCK SYSTEM.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4207, 14 September 1874, Page 2

THE TRUCK SYSTEM.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Will you be kind enough to inform a new subscriber what truck system is ? There are several well-known contractors in and around Palmerston who would be glad to know the meaning of track system.—Yours, &0., , Contractor. [The most readily available description of the truck system is contained in the Imperial Dictionary, and is as follows: —“The practice of paying the wages of workmen in goods instead of money. This practice prevailed, particularly in the mining and manufacturing districts. The masters established warehouses or shops, and the workmen in their employment cither got their wages accounted for to them by supplies of goods from such dep6ts, without receiving any money, or they got the money on a tacit and express' understanding that they were to resort to the warehouses or shops of their masters for such necessaries as they required. The ostensible design of this system was to supply the workmen and their families with provisions, clothing of good quality, &c,, at the cheapest rate, and thus to leave them but little money for the purposes of drinking and idleness. The truck system, however, was liable to great abuses. It gave rise to unfair dealing, and a species of tyranny; the workmen had often to pay exorbitant prices for their goods, and from the great facility afforded to them of procuring liberal supplies of goods in anticipation of wages, they were led into debt. These and other evils incident to the truck system, induced the Legislature. to put a stop to it by an Act passed in 1831.” J