CORRESPONDENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 904, 27 March 1869, Page 15

CORRESPON DENCE.

THE PRICE OF LABOUR. To the Editor of the Otago Witness. Sin— l observe a correspondent of the Wellington Independent, after dilating upon the immense fall in the value of stock which has taken place within the last three years, and observing that we pay both for farm, pastoral, and mechanical labour, the same wages as we paid three years ago, asks — " Is this right? Canitgoon?" "If," he continues, "the income of the employer has fallen from LI.OOO to LSOO, why has that of the labourer and mechanic remained without reduction ? In an old country, so heavy a ' fall in profits would be accompanied by a I corresponding reduction in wages ; or if that did not at once follow, manufactories would be closed and improvements of all sorts ceaae. Bow is it that the principle does not apply in these colonies ? But I would ask further, how much longer can things remain as they are ? If wages are to be paid at all, they must be paid out of profits. If there are no profits. no wages will be paid. How many stations are now paying a profit ? Are any ? If not, how far are we from a collapse? And when it comes, what will be the condition of the labourer who at present declines any reduction in wages ?" Now what, I should like to know, does this writer mean by finding fault with labourers because they " decline a reduction in wa«es ?" Does he intend to say that labourers should take less than they can gefc, that is, should sell their labour in the market for less than they can obtain for it ? Do W ever itjad employers paying more for

! labour than they can possibly help ? Observe j the state of matters at home : farm and agri- | cultural labourers obliged to support themselves and families on a miserable six or eight shillings a week ; note the condition of sempstresses, and tailors 1 work-people in London, having to toil night and day for a wretched pittance, hardly sufficient to keep soul and body together. The employer will seldom or never give one farthing more for labour than he can possibly help, and is it to be e-pected that the 1 la ourer shall be the first to set an example of not; always obeying the laws of political economy, and taking less than he can get ? To the employer a fall in wages and nusiness difficulty is often merely a matter of loss of position in the world, or the having to forego some pleasures and luxuries; to the labourer, a rise or fall in wages is often a matter of health, or sickness and starvation, and not unfrequently of life or death. What does this writer want? Does he Buppose that when a man goes to seek employment, and the squatter, farmer, or manufacturer offers him the rate of wages going, the man should say, "Thank you, Sir, I am much obliged ; but, if it is al) the same to you, I would rather take a little less, considering the present low prices." "Well," the employer would say, " T am sure I have no objection ; you are a very honest fellow;" and would probably say to himself afterwards, " Well, by Jove ! that is the ' rummest ' fellow I ever met with, taking less wages than are offered to him." As to the danger of a collapse, labourers will probably take their chance of that ; in the meantimp, they are not likely to take less than they can get, especially when they know that employers usually give no more than thfy can help. This advice of the Wellington Independent correspondent puts me in mind of the fable of "The goat and the fox." The goat and the fox both fell into a well, and were much puzzled how to get out again. At length a bright idea occurred to the fox — "You stand up on your hind legs," says he to th« goat, " and I will climb on your horns, and jump out." " All right," says the goat, and doing as the fox suggested, Mr Reynard quickly found himself on the outside of the well, complacently looking down on the goat. " Now," says the goat, " how am Ito get out ? " " Ah ! my good friend," says the fox, "that's more than I can say;" and, without troubling himself more about the matter, scampered off to his hole, leaving the poor goat to get out as best he could. So this writer, acting the part of the fox, is advising the labourer to help the employer out of his difficulty by taking less wages than he can get ; but if the labourer should do so, when wages are low, will the employer ! help the labourer out of his dimculty by i paying more wages than he can help ? lam afraid not. — I am, &c, C. N. S. i O ■ To the Editor of the Otago Witness. Sir— One occasionally sees cropping up in the New Zealand presa, articles and correspondence relating to the high rate of wages enjoyed by the working men of New Zealand These views are very apt and do lead many to the code usion that there is plenty of work and too much pay. A correspondent of a Wellington paper says that the working man's rate of pay there will ruin the runholders. In your issue of the lObh, a "Runholder" says, "On my run all the shepherds receive L 65 per year with rations." Now I am not going to dispute the above ; thpy may or may not be facts ; but I will dispute the conclusions which every surface thinker would come to, and which "Runholder " has evidently arrived at, viz. , that the labour market is n<>t gorged, and that one-half the present rate of wages is sufficient for the working man. A gentleman residing in the Taieri told me about two weeks ago that no less than eight men called at his place in the course of the week in search of employment. And I believe that somß settlers who came from the North Island expecting to get employment have not succeeded in getting it as yet. Another fact that must be patent to every one is the numbers that are leaving our shores. Ask the shipmasters at Port Chalmers, and they will tell you that they are besieged by men offering to work their passage home Shepherds may not be so plentiful as labourers, carpenters, and painters. Every labouring man cannot be a shepherd or sheepsnearer; and. " Runholder " must have known that, or he would have got ten for the one who -went to the marriage feast. One can plainly see the kind of working men "Runholder" wants the Government to import;, viz., shepherds, as he believes that with one-half the present wages— L32 103, or one-half the equivalent for wear and tear of body and spirit— be may support and educate a wife and family and become independent. 1 thought the views of slaveowners bad, but this beats them. A prize was offered lately foi the best essay on the best means of keeping the miner in the country. It would have been more to tiie point if they had said "The working classes." The question is absurd, nevertheless. As well may we aak, " What is the best way of keeping the merchant, storekeeper, lawyer," &c.,— namely, plenty of business." So what would keep the miner or working classes, is tantamount to the same thing, viz., plenty of employment of a remunerative nature. The policy of reducing the working man's wageq is not a wise policy. First. It drives him to a province or colony where he will get a greater remuneration for hia labour. Secondly. It prevents him from marrying, because he will not be able to support a wife a.«,d family, Constant employment at a fair

wage is beneficial to the province. Working men will be enabled to marry, will be enabled to suy a freehold, will in all probability become fathers of families. They will become wedded to the province ; also, will take an interest in her institutions ; will take a most active part in her elections ; and their children will feel that th« province ia their home. At the present time, thare ia no colonial or provincial feeling among the working men, more especially among the single men of this class. They feel that they are here to-day and away to-morrow. Immigration I hold to be a bad policy in the present state of the labour market. Start public works, and the Government will find plenty of emigrants — or, what is the same thing, they will keep the population in the place. 1 would suggest to the Government to begin public works, and pay the labour of same, one-half in money, and the other half in land. They will get plenty of men from this and the adjoining provinces to work under these terms ; so that a railway would be made, land sold, and emigrants kept in the colony. The Immigration scheme of our Government, 1 might liken to a barrel which has got no bottom, bo that he water which is poured in at the top goes immediately out at the bottom. We find assisted immigrants in all parts of New Zealand, who have left Otago, and it is not to be wondered at. Carpenters, for instance, when they arrive here find numbers of their craft walking the streets I for want of employment. They are told ! that wages are from 10 3 to 12a per day, but that is mostly all piece work, where the man with a family, and the single man with his lodgings bul staring him in the face, compete so keenly, that they rarely make 7s per day. Such news is very disheartening to any one who has been receiving from 5s to 6a per day in England, with all the many comforts which an advanced age has conferred m him in the shape of Working Men's Clubs, Reading Rooms, Concert Rooms, &a. He finds, a'ter a few months 1 trial, that he can make more money in England, or he hears of plenty of employment in Auckland or even Melbourne, so he leaves by the first opportunity. This is no overdrawn case, but an every day fact with all classes of working men. The Government has losfc their money.3a.nd the immigrant to boot. I would have gone more minutely into the. subject, but I was afraid of taking up toot much of your valuable space. — I am, &c, A Working Man o Port Chalmers, 15th March.