WORLD of WORK

NZ Truth, Issue 483, 19 September 1914, Page 4

WORLD of WORK

BY "HONESTAS."

Another painful chapter has been added to the annals of toil by the awful disaster at Huntly. Scarcely is the shadow o£ gloom lifted from one mining district before its sable pall is overspread above another, bringing- sorrow and ; suffering for the brave breadwinners that come back no more for .ever. To-day it is Huntly, New Zealand. Yesterday, it was Mount Lyell, Tasmania. The day before it was Lancashire. A little while ago it was France, and just prior to that it was Colorado. To-morrow — where? Mining is admittedly one pf the most dangerous occupations a man can follow. The story is told of a Conservative member of the British House of Commons, who, during the last coal strike, wished to obtain an insight into the worH for Which some men m the Old Land do not receive more than a sovereign a week. The member m question went down a coal mine, and when he came up he was asked about his sensations underground, and how he would like to work there for a sovereign a week. 'A sovereign a week!" he : exclaimed,. "I wouldn't work m a coal mine for a sovereign a minute.". . But m spite of the dangers and dirtiness of the work, the miner is a cheerful,' happy-go-lucky fellow. One •who, knows him well has written: He is simple, sincere, kind, homely, likeable, lovable. "With a giant's strength, he has the tenderness of a child. There is an innocence about him wh^ich touches the heart profoundly. He is absolutely unaffected. : ; ..;,,•■■•; <-' Perhaps that picture" is a little bit too much idealised, yet, take him by and large it is the miner head and heels! What a pity every member of our various palaver Houses cannot be made to-put m "a number of weeks each year working at the various dangerous and noxious trades upon which the commercial greatness of our glorious Empire is built! And if, they did; "Honestas" has a notion the! progress' of certain * ■ ameliorative » legislation would be accelerated somewhat. '- : ■ '*. '■-■'. '' * •■' ■ ' ♦ > : ■( ■ -..' The following advert appeared m the Wellington "Dominion" the other day: . ■■■'-... WANTED, a Competent Working Manager, with a thorough, knowledge of Sheep, Rattle,' Dairying, and Growing Crdps for a Station of 3000 acres at Fitzherbert „ East, Palmerston 'North'; Applicants to state whether single or married (no children preferred), age, experience, wages, required, and length of service with' present or previous employers. Applications to be addressed to, R. Hannah, P.O. Box 263, Wellington. . - ; The man to suit the position must be experienced m the breeding and rearing of sheep, cows, etc., he need have no knowledge of how to breed or rear children, or if he has, to be. "preferred" for the situation m t,he offer of Mr. R. Hannah, he must not put his knowledge into effective operation! And this, too, In a country calling out for population, and on a farm where the feeding of children would cost the minimum, the chance of a robust healthy stock resulting would bo tho maximum, and where the parents, would be entirely removed from the worry of rent and the cost of living! But if the jobs are to- go to the "couples" who have no children, who are to buy the boots and shoes offered for. sale m R. Hannah's various shops throughout New Zealand? ■ -■■;"■■■ • ■ ' . • ■ •:'-.'••■ '■ ■■♦■■■ ."' -■ ■ A thrifty and thinking house-wife pertinently .remarked the other day, "I'm getting sick r of this patriotlo fund, business. I don't mind giving my mite towards pur own local distress,, but when it comes to sending funds to wealthy England, it's beyond the limit. Why can't the aristocrats, owners of huge areas of land, and manufacturers on a largo scale be mulcted? They could provide all the funds, necessary without foregoing any luxuries." "Honestas" thinks likewise, especially when he is confronted by the devious dodges adopted by wealthy firms to bleed their underpaid employees. The Canterbury Farmers' Association is the latest to bring pressure to bear on those who find it difficult to make both ends meet. It recently issued a circular to all its employees, from which the following Is an extract: It has been suggested that the staff of this Association should contribute something as a whole; i.e., to guarantee to* donate a certain lump sum each week, and at a meeting of the heads of departments held yesterday, it was agreed that we should make an endeavor to raise a sum, contributed to by »»" every employee m the service, and to hand the same to the Mayor for the relief of those out of employment, and that this be continued each week if possible until peace is again secured. I should, therefore, be glad If you would think this matter over, and let me know through tho head of your department to-morrow what amount you , would bo prepared to give each •weok. A meeting of the staff will be held at G.IS this evening m the Land-room, when the matter will be further briefly explained. Your attendance is specially invited. Evidently the responso was not equal to that .anticipated' by tho well-paid "Heads" of Departments of a pseudo-co-operative concern; so, a day or two afterwards, they gave another turn of the screw and Issued tho following simple looking but minatory document: — Although circulars were sent out with regard to the abovo Fund which our staff are inaugurating, some of you do not seem to have received them, and consequently did not attend tho meeting held on Tuesday. I wish to glvo every member the opportunity of subscribing, and if you ara not familiar with the scheme. I shall ho glad If you will confer with tho Head of your Department, who will he glad to give you all particulars. Tho damnable Iteration of "Heads of Departments" seems nothing less than iho broadest of hints that those who don't glvo may be* "marked" for future displeasure by the Raid "Ht«uls." To read about a "Fund which tho .staff Ih inaugurating" In the face of tho circulars from which the above oxtnictH have been made rlvch one furiously to think. Why couldn't this fat and wealthy co-operation, with its splendid prollui, contribute an ndequnto sum from its reserve without troubling the poor devils m Its employ? * « • It is twenty years slnco Blutchford wrote "Merrlo Kngland," and Invited tho religious people, the political people, and all other people to consider a problem, which was: We havo here a Country and a People— Given a Country and a People, find how tho Peoplo may make tho best of tho Country and Themselves. Tho book hu<! ait enormous sale, and thousands upon thousands of people nuul It. Yot. after this lapse of time, tilings aro going along In the same old muddling way. Here Ih an extract from tho report of the Medical Olllcor for the Flnsbury dlHtrlct of. London, one of tho moat crowded boroughs. Ho refers to tho starved and sweated mother* and to the stunted and neglected children. Ho seta down the wages paid by Christian employers to some of tho mothers for homo work. Here an' n fow of the Items: — Doxmalitnff for toothpick*. In Gd ncr gross: boxtnakirur for luce*. In Dd per jrrosw: book-, folding lO<l per 1000 Hhv-eW: Uii'< making. &d an<l <»il P«? r fionvn tfntt; t/kntito.niakliik 3« iw ilcson blQu*«»: majiilomnklnp 7«* each; raukltiK ono-nWn iwip^r bags*. Cd per 1000K l»uttinK 20 prcaa »tud» on a cartl, CU per

gross of cards; " .no wing (author emits to braces, 5d for six dozen. The sympathetic medico koch on to describe, In simple but striking terms, the lives of these same Christian English "slstern of God" of tho KlnK and tho Queen and the rest of the Royal Family: — Hardened with housework, with the care and foeillngr of young children, worried "with tho arrears of runt and the prospect of possiplo ejoctmonl, sorrowing over tho unomploymont of her hunbuml, <!lntr.trud with the slow progress of lu-r hotnc work nrul lt» morctlcßH romunnrutluii. with no Immeilluto hopes of btitterrm'tit or of r«<lk«f from her tank, nh« Uc»v.rvca much Hytnpaihy oiul quick, gcnoroitn mv - LerliU help.