HOUSE OF LABOR

Colonist, Volume XVI, Issue 1162, 22 August 1873, Page 2

HOUSE OF LABOR

Among the inducements held,out to the English working-man to emigrate to; New Zealand that of not being required to work bo many hours each day has not been the least attractive. The agricultural laborer accustomed to toil the year round from dawn to dark, and the artizan whose hours were from six to six, compelling him in winter to begin work long before day and continue into the darkness of night, contemplate the prospect of eight hours work with feelings of delight such as might move a slavewho was about to be delivered from bondage. Weary with his day's employment when a man at last managed to make his way to his family for rest, no desire remained for indulgence in the sweets of social intercourse. Nothing was left but a craving lor the mere animal enjoyments of stimulant and rest, and the fireside was babituallv deserted for the yublic house, whet in "false and unhealthy excitement a temporary relief wu found from the depre*.

ing effects of overwork produoing 5 tiwd )ody and brain. Complaint. was constant >y 'the promoters of mechanics institutes md other. agencies for the elevation of the nasses that those for whom, they were ntended seidom came, and when they did :ome, it was not to study or inform themjelves on questions useful in their%Uling or alevating in their tendencies, but rather to substitute the ephemeral excitement of the highly colored romanceforthe scarcely more" debasing drink. It was seldom considered by the managers of these societies that the man whose body is exhausted and power of concentration gone by work too much prolonged, was no longer in a state to steadily pursue a train of thought, and that their disappointment was due,*not to the absence of innate power or desire for. knowledge, but to the imperfect organisation of labor, nor could they see that hence sprung the hindrance to technical education which has i been felt necessary to enable the British workman to maintain his old ascendency, though his so-called tensual habits have frequently been set down as the cause lof his neglecting to acquire sufficient scientific knowledge to keep him in the first rank of the ■ world's industrial champions. The congregation of great numbers of men in a single factory, characteristic of the industry of modern times, has been followed by the benefit to employer and consumer of: producing by the Bub-division of: labor, the cheapest; and best articles; but on the employed the wearing mbnotomy of .constantly repeating a single act in which his skill is pre-eminent has rendered long hours 1 far mote1 depressing in their influence. When men followed their occupation in small numbers the greater variety of the operations they were obliged to .understand and perform might.prevent the same perfect • finish being achieved, yet ' the workman himself was less injured, by long hours than when he is occupied the whole day-through in watching a machine and supplementing its performance by some simple actsouly capable of being. executed by an intelligent being though their constant repetition reduces the man intellectually to a condition in which he is almost incapable of . thought and becomes little more .than a*""*^ piece of animated mechanism. The course ' taken on. this question by the.associations of workmen in the Btrikes which have of late years been so frequent is a cheering evidence of something .being considered Jby them superior to the acquisition of large wages. ' In many instances the' employers;have been willing to concede a-higher rate of wages provided the men would consent to worJtfor the same number of hours with such over- ! time in addition as the managers of the I factory might think proper to demand. , I Conscious of-the pressing need for-relaxa--1 tion as well as mere rest the battle has-been I fought and won more on this basis than on > that of money gain, arid the noble example • set by the north.of England artizans in the nine hours, movement has been successfully h followed in many pArts of .the country. By i, objectors it has been asserted that if shorter hours were granted the extra time atjcom- "• mand would not be employed in a useful way. The unfortunate tendency of men with money and .leisure to. indulge in i barbarous spor.tß and to frequent scenes of dissipation has been the theme of many who F have written on- ; .this subject. It seems ')' never to have occurred to them to consider t. the debasing effect of exhausting labor,? W : would they admit the probability of better habits being formed when,. in place of n holidays occurring at rare intervals, each day would furnish time enough for '' some innocent and healthy' pursuit. Instances are already numerous where men !, have taken to a course of useful Btudy, t, sometimes purely for the cultivation of the mind, and often to acquire .an accurate 5# knowledge of the scientific: principlesi:_on J| which their avocation, w based, thus preparing the way by the addition of theory to practice for further improvements and' disT- coveries. The advance of culture among ; men with some leisure' may not unfairly be [Jj estimated from the number of really excellent < public speakers who have arisen among >t artizana, though they labor under the disadvantage of their opportunities coming \' late in life, their early days having passed in * unremitting toil. With a father anxious ■ for his children's welfare, and possessed of sufficient time in the evening to aid and encourage the Btudies of his family, the ' advance of the 1 rising generation cannot fail to be secured. The young will also learn to - use their time out of working hours, and bo be spared many temptations to which their loss fortunate parents are exposed. Men of a high training who have spent many years in active business often find on retirement that days crawl along wearily, so no one need " wdnder if the recently emancipated worky man is tibt at once able to make the best • n use of his new found treasure of time. That . . shorter, hours will lead to a, permanent n increase in the cost of manufactures is y commonly believed, yet even here there is * reason to hope; the result will not be ■ unfavorable. Those who with ample opportunities have long and closely watched the amount and quality.of.work done under the long and short time system assert positively a that men employed for only eight houre pee day turn out in the course of a year more Z and better work than those engaged ten ie hours, and that overtime is ultimately L an injury to the workman iv health aiid the employer in the quality of his goods.- The , a fact of men who take contract*.often.working long hours is pointed to as conclusively d proving what their opinions "are. We take ~ leave to think it does nothing of the kind. t It provoi no more than the ease with whic^ c men will sometimes be induced for the sake n of securing: a temporary increase of their ~ earnings to deprive themselves of those c hours when they ought, to be recruiting , c their Btrength. The question rather is, how ,f long can a man: subject himself to excessive a toil without diminishing his future power of ,f work ? and the answer will be found in the l 8 fact that if ever a workman habitually c temperate iB tempted into excess it is when a he has by overwork bo lowered his vital i. energies as to iaduoe him to attempt thtw

restoration by the excessive use of stimulants. The workman's health and strength are his capital, and if expended lavishly in early life, he is left a broken and prematurely old man at an age when he might by the exercise of more discretion, or under more favorable circumstances, have been able to earn his bread with comfort to himself, instead of being a burden to others. In New Zealand the eight hours system is too well established to be easily broken down. Messrs. Brogden to a certain extent made the attempt with their imported navvies, from whom they endeavored to exact nine hours, and to this false step may in great measure be attributed the loss they have been compelled to endure by men leaving them whose passages they had paid from England. Working on the same railways with men who were on the eight hours system, the imported laborers naturally fancied they were unjustly treated, and sought to be placed on an equality with their tellows. Public sympathy went with them, and, this was a healthy sign of the secure continuance in the Colony of this great aid to the moral and social elevation of the working classes, and of the certainty that those who may be induced to come among us need never apprehend being deprived of the inestimable boon of short hours.