NORTH V. SOUTH.

Timaru Herald, Volume LII, Issue 5166, 12 June 1891, Page 3

NORTH V. SOUTH.

" A. Tramp, Keg.," Auckland's itinerant humorist, lately traversed this ialand, and on bin return writon :— I went out into tho 1 cold, and " down youth " But I did nofc stop ■ any longor thnn I could linlp, having nn more anxiety to remain than n membor of tho Civil Sorfico. Holds of departments havo piles of i applications from men dosirous of being trans- • forrod to tho North Tuland, but not n oinglo application for removal to tho South. Civil Heri vice Johnnies etiok to tho North liko lirai pots to a rocV. Somo of them would eoonoi' i die than loave tho island. Tho other daj a > high-rnnkod official m tho ITorth was ordered , to prooood South. Ho objoctod for olirantio , reasons, 'ill health, family Buffer by tho chnn<;o, &o. After tho pet correspondence aud negotiation!!, tho usual compromise fol' lowed, and tho high-billotted official conseni ted to ohiftto ft drior and doadlior climate m thocnat. This roluntanco to sorvo m tho South i is not confined to tho Civil Service Of the I many Auoklandors whom tho nrcoßnitioß of business or tho vicißß!fcudoa of fortunn hud driven t thoro, I mot none who did not oxpross tho ' wishful hopo of returning again to " dour old Auckland." Yefc Bouthlisnd is no Siberia. Tho grainopolio planted on tho Southland plains is an healthy, if not hoalthior, than the guraopolis pilod on tho Bpur fringod shores of . tho Waitotnala. But it, mso dump, dieacrooj abio, and cold— oh, ao ould ! — that longovity r is not a thing to bo greatly knnkored ftftor m j Southland,

NO SLAVES UNDER THE FLAG. s» . An official report on the Indian factory system gives a very pretty view of the nigger- . driving by which operatives of India aro worked to under-bid those of England. The report was intonded to inform tho Indian Government on the question a3 to whether it was advisable to limit the hours of women to 11 a day. It advises generally m favour of reform, but proposeß more large limitations. It decides against any limitation of the hours of adult labour, on tho ground that the operatives are m the main opposed to a legal limit of eight or any hours, but propose to raise the* ago of children as balE-timers to 14. As things go they are bad enough- Boys of 14 aad women, tho mothers of families, put m an average day's work of 13 hours, beginning about fivo or later, and ending at aoven or a lif.tlo later. They frequently riso at three or four m order to get to tho faotors m time. They have half an hour's reat m the day, take their food while tending the moving machines, und have a few minutes a day for a smote. That is the life, varied by an I average of two holidays a month, on alternate Sundays, from which, however, an hour or so m the morning has to be deducted for oleaning machinery. An absolute rest one day m seven is one of the reforms which the now Bill will endeavour to fix.