The Oamaru Mail WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 13 October 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1880.

Is accordance with a circular issued by the Government to the stationmasters on the railways, from the 11th of the present month railway cmploye'3 and their families are not to be allowed the privilege of travelling on the railways at quarter rates. The other day, in announcing the imposition of ;i penny stamp in the case of receipts for wages, and, commenting thereupon, we asked what might be the nest item in the programme of the 'Government in connection with their overwhelming and slashing-all-round retrenchment; operations. Here we have the next item, and it is in a direction that might have been expected. The Government and those who sympathise with them, ridiculed the idea that the working man had anything to complain about. They said that he was better off in this Colony than elsewhere, that he was, in fact, too highly favored. Bat it is several months since we have either heard or read such expressions. Durine that period the "Advanced Liberals" in power have undertaken " the odious task" of curtailing the excess of blissfnluess of the working classes, PerhaDS direct taxation, indirect taxation, 20 per cent, reductions, and the withdrawal of privileges, have sufficiently reduced, the ea3eand luxury which were "demoralising" our working men, and have more nearly brought them back from too speedy progresslveness to the position which they occupied in the Old Country and which some people appear to think they should occupy here. For the sake of the Colony we hope the Government have now stayed their hand. We in no degree sympathise with demagogueism. There are occasions when the laborer takes up a position as arbitrary and unjust as any attitude adopted by the employer. But this is invariably the reaction consequent upon prolonged and grinding oppression such as that which prevails in overcrowded countries. There is no necessity for the laborer and the capitalist to be at variance in this new country, where labor and capital mugt go hand-in-hand in the processes of colonisation. Provided that no artificial interference with the laws which maintain the balance between labor and capital is interposed, the representatives of neither clas3 will have cause to complain. The private employers of labor in this Colony appear to h'avo no inclination to interfere with the natural laws that govern capital and labor, and the faborers and artisans appear to be of the same mind. As a consequence, the greatest amount of good feeling exists between the two jpterests. We cannot say the same for the Government. Although the Premier stated in Parliament that"the desire of his Government was to assimilate the wages and salaries paid to railway and civil servants to those which were being paid outside for the performance or duties similar to those which Government employes and officials performed, his Government has not acted upon any such principle. The Premier, of course, desired to allay any fears that might be created by their retrenchment operations. He doubtless recognised the too palpable fact that th* almost total cessation of public works must occasion further additions to the ranks of the unemployed, and that a material redundancy of labor would ensue. He knew full well that, under such a condition, the Government as a large employer of labor, had it in their power to influence the rates of labor at will, and, seeing that successive Governments are responsible for the overburdened condition of the labor market, the Government should havo acted with that consideration which the Premier's sense of i justice evidently dictated to him prior to -carrying their pledges of retrenchment |into eneet. But how have they acted? They have reduced wages below a standard at which their employes can live, even by the exercise of the greatest possible economy, and have sounded the keynote to the "institution of artificial rates outside their departments, and, whilst they have done this, they have protected salaried officers, who could have suffered reductions almost unconsciously, with a tenacious ardor that may be consistent with the tenets of " advanced Liberals,' 1 but which is as arbitrary as the heart of the most confirmed autocrat could desire.