South Canterbury Times. FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 1883.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3107, 16 March 1883, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 1883.

At the last meeting of the Harbor Board, the manager of the Landing Service drew attention to a matter which deserves notice. We refer to the loading of wheat sacks. The manager pointed out that the maximum of four bushels per sack was often exceeded by shippers. It was a small matter, for the extension project was just then occupying everybody’s attention, and it escaped notice. We should like, therefore, to draw the attention of the Board and the public to the injustice that is done to the laboring men by this unchecked imposition. It should first of all be understood that 3| bushels, or at the very outside four bushels of wheat per sack, is the utmost load that the average laborer can carry. There is no denying this : it is admitted, on all hands. Those who try to impose more than fair loads upon the men, are guilty of something not quite fair. At this point it is only right that the Board should step in and exercise its authority. We are not favorable to legislation as a regulator of labor, — we do not advocate invoking the law on behalf of any class—the contention between capital and labor must right itself. But we do certainly think an oppressive practice should be enquired into, and this overloading of sacks is certainly a most reprehensible practice. No man can stand excessive labor. The Melbourne Chamber of Commerce have bad the matter represented to them, and they are taking action. Should our Harbor Board or Chamber of Commerce disregard the appeal ? We fearlessly assert that to impose more than (at the very outside) four bushels per bag is an inhuman imposition. There must be some bounds put to the efforts of capital to gain at the expense of labor; capital must not be permitted to drain the very life-blood out of labor. The market value of labor is of course a matter of supply and demand, and is liable to fluctuation. But by labor we understand reasonable service, and if this is yielded no more can be expected. Now, for an ordinary man to carry about on his back sacks containing over four bushels is certainly not fair labor. We appeal to the employers to consider the question. It is one worthy of their notice ; it is most desirable that the various parts of the social machinery should work harmoniously, and while it is the duty of the laborer to exert himself faithfully for the pay ho receives, it is equally the duty of capital to see that no unfair burden is placed upon the laborer.

We have received a copy of the annual report of the Ballarat School of Mines, a book full of interest, as showing what has been done in the cultivation of the art of mining and the developement of the sciences which are immediately connected with it. The school is situated in one of the principal streets of the fair and flourishing city of Ballarat, and its course embraces a number of practical sciences. Certificates of proficiency are granted from the school to persons who have proved their fitness for leading positions in a mine, such as captain of shift, underground manager, or engine driver, and there is thus secured for the mines of the colony thoroughly trained men to direct the labor. Certificates are also granted on the passing of certain examinations in botany, pharmacy, materia medica, telegraphy, mathematics, surveying, mining, engineering, mineralogy, assaying and other branches ofknowlodge

useful to the miner. The course of instruction is extremely well selected and the staff of professors and teachers is an excellent one both as to numbers, and, judging from the names of some of them with whom we are acquainted, as to efficiency. The school has already established and proved itself, it has produced sufficiently good results to claim a high rank. When the scramble of the eariy days of Australia was over, as it began to grow more and more difficult to get at the gold which seemed to retreat into remoter depths of the earth ; it was recognised that the days of pick and shovelling fortunes were over, and that if mining were to take rank as a reproductive industry, it must be cultivated and a theory must be instituted on which a more perfect practice might be effected. The outcome of this idea was the School of Mines to whose report we now refer. No colonist who desires to see progress made in these new lands can withold his sympathy from movements so excellent and practical as this.