Thrift. Wages, and Socialism.

Otago Witness, Issue 2902, 27 October 1909, Page 64

Thrift. Wages, and Socialism.

TO TnE EDITOR.

Sir.— l notice that Mr W. Henry, of We-,fpc.i has. deiotod a somewliafc 1-en^fiiiv letter to 'cms of my jh<\ as t =-uul <?«pa.rts fiom politeness. H» quotes s-ome •- took .Socialistic arguments that are cxr-'oclcd long ago, and ho quotes conditions of life that niuy" exist in the olci lands but do l.ot cxir.t hero. I do not want to outer into a newspapei. contro-vei-v, a.s I am too busy, and it is not u -oii.il v.-hiN either. Let us bee ihe material ths Yorki Reform Associaton liad to work upon — the cause* that brought it into existonce. I liaw ju.st received some English newspapers, and one of them, the Dorset Chronicle, -gives a short item showing the low wages that exist. It appears that these cases are aot disposed o.f bj the

Official Assignee as here, but come before the judge — in this oase the County Court juc/je. The first is a baker, affed 50, with a wife and four young children. H» wag>es are 12s 6d a ■week. His debts are £9 18s 3d, and he offered to pay 10s in the pound by instalments of 4s every 28 days, huit che iudpe decidted tihat he" sho^'d pay in. full by "the sam,a install--' medc. The next was a farm labourer, aged 33, owing £15 14s. B& had a wife and seven children. He Jiad a house rent free and free fuel. His wages were lls a week. Adjudicated to pay 7s 5ol" in the pound by instalments o>t 3s every 28 days. Small wapes and sickness werebrouj?ht forward as the cause of their' troubles. The next' was .a fish hawker, single, owing £15 6s Dd, " which he offered * to ,pay in full in instahnemts ,of 5s evc.ryj' 28 days. .He said his earnings were 10».a week, but as the - macfeeirel season w*j coming: in he hoped to do better. The judfee warned him that he would a-eoeive the protection of the court only as longr as he kept up these payments. - It seems to ' me .that the Torlos Reform Association is one of Jhe noble benevolent British assoqia*" tions. of which there are 2000 aione in LinSdon, and. of which the Salvation Aonfayt c 16 a world-wide shininsr example-. Theset. associations do not 6it down on a log, njospims their lives awiay and sighing for th« millennium. It is up -and cbin^, and doi^e its veigr .best to suit existing •circuinstandes am<a surrountJinKS and helping poor peopi aionff. And I notice by latest news the Boy Scouts in England aire to be d.rtaiU»df ; off to tidy ur and wash out the houses mth squalid parts of the towns. It is to be regretted that there are people with. a mental twist who run away with .he idea that no one will do a. gsmerous actionunless he sees a ohanoe of getting souk' return for it. Mr Henry says there hr ' been no scarcity of labour ir * the country • for years past. This is not true, as the newspapers have often testified. Look ait the struggles in the milking districts "n. the JSorth Island, for instance; and tn© big struggles the farmers have at harveab time. Before I came here 1 wanted a water raoe made thres miles long-, and i* stooc* over three years. The pa-ice offered* was Is an hour. J smaller naoe of & mile long nad to be abarjdoned, because there was no labour. There- are innumerable cases weiv th< country is undeveloped for the same reason. The employer i. often forced to arrange his work from hand! to mouth owuik to eoareitv of labour A farmer once told roe that he intended z<> do without a man and pi*fc in SO acres of crop less, and worV the place with the help of his family only. Repardirajy Ohireeso cheap labour, as %r as my knowledge goes tins was always a myth. Anof 'n reference to turnip-thinning, it would not dif> to) bring the town unemployed to do such" a. job. If they took it by contract at current rates most likely they .vould e&rn 2" 6d a day. But what is more to the point* as far as ..he farmer is coneermefi, they mis-ht waste and destroy the makings of sundry lons of turnips every cuy. If they had no knowledge of vegetation' they would not know by the droop cf the turnip leaves whero to st.rik? the hoe to takg out the right turnip. And it raquires a lo* of dexterity to jerk the hoe to and fro. thinning all this time, and sometimes {riving it a side twist. Mr Henry's review of the thrae anecdotes eeeriis to show that he views the ohrk side of human nature. I have only tima to say that the youth in Drabedin volunteered the information that he received the £2 5s a ;veek and fouaid. which made it quite natural for me* to ooneratulate him on the nice little bit "yoi will have in ths Savings Bank." and then to express .surprise when he said he spent his earnings as he "made them." Tbfa absence of thrift is a national failing. A»i when we ss© thrift we can put a value on it. Many yearly station hands, for instance, save uv all their cash. Thew expenses raa> be £10 to £15 a ysax, and/ they are respectable and in pood repute, and l haw a tidy and jrood appearance, and repair their clothes and boots maybe. I havo been told of sundry young fellows who wcr? wasfimer their ca*h in billiards •w beer and flashing round beinc induced to save a year's ivajres, cr perhaps a little more, and then have £50. and invset it in buying a horse, saddle, and bridle and Wm of dogs, so as to go mustering aixl "hcpherdii-^, which would be a lift up for them. All honour and! credit to them for it I say. Then a^ they have made a htarl in thrift Miov are likely to continue, and perhaps when they help to jrive thVir parents a start they are doing <jood wjfch their capita' for mam reasons. If th«y 6av« it up to purchase a house and garden theT are prepared when matrimony comes aloner. and feu- can escape this now, when there are such a number of tidy and industrious women everywhere. I would remind" Mr Henr\ that a man can easily jre* through his daily wacrc-s without pofctirasr drunk or disreputable. The actions of the professional labour agitator and his im- • mediate followers mint be cordomned. Thv»v seem to take a jaundiced \iew of all employers of labour, even the* employers who aro in a sma'.l way, and &t.rusy?lin<£r to tret a footing in the world. They seem to look upon them all as the enomv of Ihe worker. The Hon. Mr John Bums is a mar whom every Britan ehoulol be proud of. He tolls th< workers to improve their feiirrowndings. Recently, when addressing an extra large gathering of workers, ho >=ai<.' that Britain annually fi>aiut 164million! in drink and 60 millions in "sports — too iarge a proportion of which was spttmt by the workers, and thsy wou'd bs alwa-vs in sere st.ait-: as long; a* this undesirable state of affaiif continued. Thess utterances stamn him consicl?rably above firebrand? tuch as Mr Koir Hardio. I am t-orrv this It- tt-ei i= so long, and i have only half <lon.e. In cor.c'ii"sion. I will jriv« the late Colonel Inger.-oll's deEntiop of v S->o:jlist. and it i^ ivcrth thinking o\£ by aji enlightened m:ui : — "Here is a bootshep. Ona of the wooers mak-'ft hirrs-ssil acr.uitintei-) w ith all the tlr-tail? of t,he bnt&irii^ss. He aho =ai ps up hi*, money. Ther« are «ix othet* who do jiot study their work, anii idle their spar© time and .cash away, in. a saloon. The thrifty man frets x lxxstshop of his own, and gete married, and FOirin evemnc; tak<i> iiis wife out for a walk, and passes tho othors idling bheir time at a street corner. They at once steo into the nearest satloor and pass resolutions condemning capital and property." To this I would add the mocbarate versiomj of the Tenth Commandment, thinking that Mr Henry migh' like to see it worked on a sampler, and hung on his bedroom wail : "Thou Shalt not covet ans of fchy neighbour's worldly pos-sessuins, nor anything that is his, nor the heavenly prize he- hopes to marry." — I am, etc., Youb Table Hill Cobbespokdent* October 23*