THE COLONIST. Published Daily-Morning. Nelson, Saturday, Feb. 16, 1907. COLONIAL WORKERS.

Colonist, Volume XLIX, Issue 11862, 16 February 1907, Page 2

THE COLONIST. Published Daily-Morning. Nelson, Saturday, Feb. 16, 1907. COLONIAL WORKERS.

In a recent issue the "Lyttelton Times" gave publicity to the views upon the conditions of New Zealand workers expressed, in the course of an interview, by M. Peschkoff, a young Russian who has been travelling through New Zealand' for the past two months with a companion, studying the conditions oK tho colonial working man. We are told that M. Peschkoff has been away from Russia for some two and a half years' visiting Canada, the United States and other parts of the World ; that he belongs to a literary circle In Russia and is an advanced ho cialist. The reporter says that "it came aa something of a shock to find that he did not regard New Zealand as a paradise for the working man. He and hi 3 companion landed in Auckland and walked to Napier for, the purpose of gathering first-hand impressions from the workers they met. Then they found their way gradually south staying everywhere in the cheapest lodging houses, and mixing with the poorest grade of workers. M. Peschkoff h~aa arrived at the conclusion that the New Zealand working man ja. -little, if any, better off than the workers of any other country. 'I am not a materialist,' he said. . . 'You must excuse me, but I want to take your people and say tathem how bad they live. They do not read ; they work hard. Your manual laborers'work harder than do the laborers in Canada or America. Then they go home to their rooms. Have you seen those bedrooms? There is a bed and a little bit of candle. They must go out, and where shall they go? Your libraries,' and another expressive

shrug finished the sentence. 'We have been along the road travelling from Auckland to Napier,'* he continned. 'The farm laborer works hard all day, and he is cut off from companionship. He should have a home, but we found he often has : what you calif a little wharei The whare looks so bad. Yours is a young country, and the men look forward and are apparently content, to live as they do.' 'Are the European workers better off' asked the reporter,' 'They are far more advanced,' said M: Peschkoff; 'Vn , Jbiuropn the vnViiors read and think, and have all the freedom they want. ■ Of course the conditions aie unsot- > tied in Germany at present, and in a I few years there will be some changes r there. You have high wages hero, ; but the cost of living is high, add the worker gains'nothing. l 7our ] homes are not better thaii the homes of Canada and America. In Toronto and Ottawa I saw no slums like the slums I saw in Wellington and : Auckland." ' The impressions or the Colony derived by this visitor are not calculated to make Now Zealanders par- \ tioularly proud of their accomplishj ments, especially as these impres-; siona have been gained at a time of' " prosperifcyjahd when good times have v been experienced for many years. It will naturally be remarkod that this traveller says he mixed with the poorest grade of workers, and of course he derived his impressions \ from those he actually saws Had he j - mised with another grade his views J of colonial life might be different, j but it is undeniable that there is a good deal of truth in what M. Peschkoff says, and it is not only the p"eorer grades of single men in the I larger town who fail to find a home in their boarding houses', and who are consequently, compelled to go c out, Of recent years the establish- . ment of technical schools, the prof vision of public libraries and of other institutions has done sometning to provide interests,but we are i told that the consequence of all work * and no play is to make Jack a dull boy. A want in many of our centres i. is the provision of means whereby c the hours after labor is done may be II spent pleasantly, without irksome ' restrictions, and alliidst surroundy ings that will his helpful, ; The picture pre^enbd of the workers on the farms is by no means an attractive one, and it n?ay be that in some cases the impressjons were derived from experiences oif temporary habitations at shearing time, and we cannot forget that ParliaS ment was called r upon to take r action some few years back with reLl gard to the accommodation of sheare ers. But outside that there are cvi- ' dences in sonle parts of the Colony |j of want of comfort and of elevating c influences,'and with ffiaby reading a dpeß not appear to be regarded as a * pleaant recreation, thongh as excellent books' are now issued jri'v'fery oheapforni,evsn the want of a public library within close reach is not tho drawback it otherwise would be. It is not by any means cheating that in a time of prosperity a visitor should be able to form so poor an impression as this on© han donbj and though we may discount his convictions considerably his views should cause us to pause and consider bow things hi&y b« i^ni-iA'ed.