The Working Man in the 50's and in the 90s.

Otago Witness, Issue 2173, 17 October 1895, Page 11

The Working Man in the 50's and in the 90s.

TO SUK KDITOn. Sir,— ln the Melbourne Ltader rf September 7 (page 1 11) appears a letter by "A Farm Hand," wuich WKy open the eyea of somo of h s class hero who are upt to think their own oondition the worst n*afcib!& As one who haa seen a little of the colonies dm ing a residence of 43 yeais in them, I havo no hesitation in 3ayln»t that nowhere in the Australasian group is a labouring man so well treatfd and cared for as iv New Zealand If ha w i/ot yet etteemud as he ought to b«, the fault is largely owing to bis owu want of selfresrxct — an article having no rotation whatever to Dombast, bouiica, and bluster, as he too often fcuppoees, but of different motal altogether. Wages por day in Victoria now are 2n 6d for labourers, 53 for carpenters, nnd work scarce and difficult to obtain. I remember the timo 1852-3 when unskilled labourers wore not easily found at Us a day, and carpenters could get any amount of work at Sss per day ; when married couples on etations got their ,£l2O and single men £80 pat annum ; whou awinoi leceived £100 cash down on tho capstan for the run Homo in such furaoua cUppere as the L'ghtuing and tbe Red Jacket, before lifting an auchor; when the fow shops ia Elizabeth street were indifferent to all display, or of even takiog dowu moi-d than half thtir shutters. Those were th« days when the nun looked always bright and every mau'a heart beat high ; when niasous got SQa a d.->y and their hodmen 153 ; when the greater part of tho fow streets of Melbourne were UDinacadamieed, and stonebreakcrs were paid 10s par j ard at the foot ot old Yarra bridge. And thone wore tho days when mad diggers occasionally ate bank noted between slices of bread and butter by way of sandwich, and ployed at skittles with bottles of bn»r dy Bt .£1 per bottle for tho nintpins ; when tho ovcott would come dashing into town with 30,0000z of gold behind it, as tho roiult of a few days' woik on the goldfUlds. My word ! what a gallant-looking lot of fellows composed it—many of them men of good birth and education, all armed to the teeth, full of coinage and martini bearing, \v>th their three-quarter-blood horses foaming white under the not sun about the snaffle and flunk. Good shots, too, they were, as evildoais of ton found out. I give one iiihtancf, though trifiicg in itself, to enow their knowledge of the art of aiming straight. The escort; was going ono way, onn a party, «. f whom I was cue, was goiug th« other, when a wretched cur noiorigiug to us thought lit t> stnrt out an) yelp al owe of thoir horses' hcols, causing him to pranco and ourvtt raihei mmo tliun Ins ridisr thought desirable. Amid it all the rider quietly diew out hia 1 revolver, and juht turn ng lus head to catch a glinipio of tlin (iog ho fh*od, sii'J tumbled him over dead ut the first shot, then cnlmly resumed hlfl tr^vela, leaviiig with us a Qtm impression that that same gontlf man knew his business. I declare I almost forget I am but a relic of the past aa I look buck on those days, recalling a rush of incidents to memory, some of which 1 would willingly I forgot. j The deaire -for gold seems to bo native born in every man, and the desire to squander it when obtained amounts to a p&tsion with many. I wa3 on the Ovens when that goldrkld was in all its gloiy, and 1 remember a man tUoro who put his gold in one scale and himself in the other, and his sold to.k him up with a jerk. He squandered the lot ftway at flziltlen in the appiovcd fashion tieicribid above and on barmaids sad in evory conceivable folly ; tlmn bo returned to work, and, as though it wcro to illustrate the truth of the old aJpgt; "7 he devil always knows hi« own child," hofcbortly after struck another patch rs rich as the ouc he had wasted But througuout all the goldrn eliower of the early fiftiei '• Vanity of yaniths" was written In large Utters every where, if one itould only wee It. A dark shadow wa« at the back of all Orimo was rampant: the pricons aud lunatic axylums wore cammed to overflowing ; wa^te and extravagance in all directions. The working man was kiug in tbose days. The following by one of them will show what lie is thero fr'-day :— "'A Farm Hand' writes : 'Our boss ia in tho bubit of saying " 1 here'a no fight hour's labour for tho fornaor," but he evidently means the farmer's lxboutor. Tbh furmor lam lef erring to gots £21 per week for his milk. The men's hut is a wretched hovel, so draughty that wo could hardly keep a candle alight ; tbe beds, broken down atn. tellers ; mo convenience of any description, not eveu a tin dish to w«sh in. I and throo other men had to rise at 4.30 a m , milk 26 cows each, then wash up cms and bucktts. After thL<, breakfast (mlt meat, dry bread, tea) Sinking post holes in Btony ground till dinner time (for dinner, salt mutton, potato-'B, rlco, water). More post holes till milking (4 30). At 7.30 supper (corned " junk," bread, t.oacle, tea). Then rube up cows feed for next morning. Finished iho dajrs work at B.3o— about 98 hours a weekfor 10s." 1 A rate of ljd per hour I Sic transit gloria mundi.—l am. etc., T. H. M Southland, Octjberl.