The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 117, 5 September 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1876.

I Wk were certatnly uiiJer t*ie impress! «n | f at the stnatn of immigration w ieli J>as i h<mi% direct*d f« our shorts during t e j past few years Itad, in a great measure, : Wm cKccktd, and that tttc injihlictuus | flooding of the Colony had brtn put a stop j to. To our surprise, liowtwr, we learn | t':at in the wtotitli of July alone upwards | of 1,400 immigrants lir.ve hcen despatctied. | tt is title they have been distributed ! fc?trottg*votit the Colony, Wellington re- ! ceivtng 240 ; Auckland, 27.): Napier, IHO : ! Ntbon, 2m; anel Otago, 31*». | will, R*» doubt, appear but comparatively I small numbers to be absorbed in the seveI nil Provinces, and were our labor markets ! in a healthy state, they would prove more ; of an ac: jutsition than otherwise, and leave : but Hi He to fear for the consequences. Gut what is t r, e actual state of affairs at ; the present time i From all pirts of t'te \ Colony—from north to south, east to west, | the sanvj tal-j of stagnation is borne ; the j towns and cities full of men anxiously ' looking for work, ye! 1 notm to be found. i lu the country districts such a search is ' utterly futile, for yet another month must ; jKiS!* away Ixtfore the shearing will com- ! mence, and fully four before thera comes I a prospect of harvesting. Disjuise it as i we may, and whatever may be urged to the ' contrary, sa*U xpcrieiice makes it painfully apparent that laWr is scarce and hands ! plentiful. Under t!«eae circumstances, I the course adopted by the Home Agency I cannot be too strongly condemned, and it ts to be hoped that immediate steps will ! be taken for its discontinuance. We are | at a loss to account for the antagonistic feeling invariably evinced towards the laboring classes by the majority of the Piress. For our own part, we boldly assert that the working men of this Colony, from year's end to year's end, exhibit an amount of patience which may be looked for in vain in their fellows of the Old Country ; and it is no small argument in their favor, that, whatever may be their privations or hardships, those riots which arw of common occnrrcnca at Home are in the Colonies. fan it be denied that many a poor fellow has to tramp hundreds of miles, footsore, and weary, in search of employment, which, if he be fortunate enough to. obtain, he is glad to crawl at night beneath a canvas rag to screen him from the elements. lJnring the few months when shearing or harvesting requires his services, he is sought after, an.i the high figure which his labor commands in those

needful timss is talked about and written about as if it were within his reach during the fifty-two weeks of the year. As will occur now and again, when perhaps some good-for-nothing scapergrace has been oJered work whici he is loth to accept the fact, is heralded throughout the length and breadth of t e hind ; the Northern papers publish and the Southern journals extract it ; comments are made on it, and additions tacked to it till it appears as if the w;.ole class were au idle vagabondising lot, whose sole aversion was the work they sjeni so anxious to obtain. Do the journals retail the weary struggle, the dispiriting disappointments, and the rebuffs that are daily experienced in the fruitless search for work. No ; but should a few, grown tired of the Micawber policy, in an i-rderly respectful manner interview the authorities with a request for employment, they are immediately denounced as malcontents, too lazy to work, and only anxious for agitation. Tiiis is t/e treatment to which a number of unfortttnatas were subjected a few weeks since, and ins'.ead of receiving that sympathy and protection from those whose duty it was to defend the suffering, they were loaded with taunts, which were as false as they were undeserved. For taking the only course open to them, the daily journals set upon them in a most cowardly manner, impugned the sincerity of their request, and while prophesying that the work provided would not be accepted, condemned fit-in witi.o.it a trial. Notwithstanding all that high-sounding philosophy about " tin dignity ui labor," thera is a wide difference between its theory and practice ; and when it is remembered fiat the work offered by the Government was that of " cracking diamonds"—an occupation which it "equina a great stretch of turns illation to r.is.hiiikite with either dignity or profit—the fact t at there wer. but few des.rters gives the lie direct to the calumnies whic:i had been published. We have taken no small interest in tin .ssue of that application for work, and we are glad to by a Duncdin daily of yesterday's date that those who have been provided for, have proved worthy of the small interest which was taken in them, file Guardian, in speaking of the fact, stat.s tiiat nearly one hundred of the men w,.0 gave in t .eir nam s to the Provincial Engineer continue to be employed on the Biu.-skin and Port Chalmers road. They w t re furnisied with tents, but judging that as many as three and four had to sake shelter under a six by eight, t e inducement was not very great, nor the acommoJation too liberal. It further states tiiat altogether upwards of 1.0 man liave been put on, many of whom are breaking stones at Is. lOd. per yard. We have no doubt t!.at many of those poor feltows wj:o are huddled together at nigi.t time after a day's amusement r.t stonebreaking, have been as tenderly nurtursd as some of the scribes who delight in throwing mud at them.