The Southland Times. FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 1875.

Southland Times, Issue 2056, 22 January 1875, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 1875.

Upwards of fbrtypye'arsf' a§6, Thomas Carlyle, one of England's greatest thinkers, thus apostrophised the dignity of Labdr.in hi'sWn' "quailit aud'forcibltf" diction :—" There ' is 'a < perentiiaV nobleness,. - an. - even ,„ jiacrednessjlJn^,, Wov k. !,' . " Noble Lnbor, wbo is yet to be the king of tbia Earth, and sit on the highest throne !" vßy slow degrees these words are proving 1 prophetic. Throughout the world the demand for labor, that is to say, for the work of skilled hands, in contra-distiuction to brain- jvork, is .increasing year by year. The working-; man is everywhere becoming master of the situation, and caa command relatively far better terms for his services than the' clerk, or shopman, or even the average | professional man. "We need not npw enquire how this change is being brought about, but the fact teaches a useful practical lesson, and it is well that it should be recognised in time. The following extract from a recent American paper shows that this state of matters is already attracting attention in the United States : — " Nothing is perhaps becoming more evident than the fact that rude j labor, requiring only a certain amount of practice and: dexterity, is now generally better paid than that which involves more or less of education, brainwork and skill. In many places the clerk is not earning half the income of the carpenter. In short, all kinds of manual labor, both skilled and unskilled, are at a premium ; while all that is sedentary and involves chiefly, if not exclusively, the work of the braiu, has become a drug in the market." The same phenomenon has recently become observable in Australia, and evidence is not wanting that, in a very few years, when the present rising generation of New Zealand youth eaters on the active competitiori of life, the same thing will be felt here. Laborers and tradesmen even now earn from 8s to 16s per day of eight hours, while clerks and shopmen are glad to serve for much longer hours at a remuneration, in many instances, of 30s or £2 per week, and frequently for less. Should the candidates for sedeatary employment increase at the rate which present appearances would lead one to expect, the disproportion will become still. -greater, and the remuneration earned by this class still smaller than it is now. The cause is not far to seek. Parents, from a mistaken idea that sedentary employment is more " genteel," and confers a claim to higher social standing than the honest labor of tho hands, will persist in bringing up their sons to be clerks and shopmen and G-overnment emyloyees, rather than teach them a useful trade. The time is coming when many of the victims of this misplaced parental kindness will bitterly rue the day when their fathers and mothers adopted such mistaken ideas. Many an educated man now in the colonies, struggling to keep up appearauces on his scanty earnings, wishes that in his youth he had been taught a trade, and would willingly exchange the so-called " gentility," which costs him so dear in pinching and anxiuty, for the comfort and ! independence which he sees every sober and industrious artisan enjoy. It is high time that people should recognise the fact— not in words merely, but in practice—that the labor of the hands is as honorable a mode of earning one's living as any other. There is no reason in the world why those who adopt this view should educate their children less carefully than others. But there cannot be any doubt that the vast majority of those i who desire to secure an independent and j respectable career for their sons will attain their object in this practical age ! much better by teaching them a manly | and useful trade, than bj bringing them up to any so-called " genteel " and light employment.