THE "LIVING WAGE" AND THE CITY COUNCIL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10035, 28 April 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE "LIVING WAGE" AND THE CITY COUNCIL.

TO THE EDITOB.

Sib, —I have just read the discussion in the council on Cr Cohen's motion on the above question, and I trnsfc the citizens generally will do the same. The majority of members who follow the lead of Mr Fish have had many grave charges made agaiust them, but I do not know if any action of theirs proves more conclusively their nnfitness as representative men than their action of laßt evening. They virtually affirmed they were not in favonr of a "living wage." In the short discussion which took placo on the motion, Cr Toomey gave utterance to the statement which Mayor Fiah deemed so very conclusive at a previous meeting of the council —viz., that the supreme function of the council was to conserve the interests of the ratepayers by keoping the rates us low as possible. This is a doctrine worthy of the quarter from which it came. It ia not only immoral, but foolish. The council are supposed to protect the interests and look after the welfare of the whole citizens, and they are not looking after the welfare of the citizens if the price of their labour is reduced to a starvation point. It is foolish, because the ratepayers' property is only made valuable if the labour of their tenants is properly rewarded.

Do Messrs Fish and Toomey think they will be able to establish a wealthy body of ratepayers in the midst of an impoverished community? I venture to think that no intelligent ratepayer U of their opinion. But the action of the council is not only negatively bad; it is positively so.. They are setting an evil example to every employer of labour by introdueingalow standard of living, thereby preparing the conditions necessary to the growth of every evil which invariably follows poverty. That so-called representative men could advocate a policy such as this would, under ordinary circumstances, be astonishing, but it is not astonishing when it is dono by the dominant party in the City Council. The names of the men who have preached this doctrine of selfishness, and who have given their vote for this immoral course, should be remombored by the citizens. They are Messrs Fish, Toomey, M'Qregor, Swan, Oweu, Hardy, and Gore.—l am, &0., Duoediu, April 26. H. K. MoHnisos.