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Timaru Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 5269, 21 October 1891, Page 2

The Wellington Evening Post of Saturday last contained a short article which Btates that muoh surprise has been, expressed at the large number of the Southern unemployed who have availed themselves of the assistance of the Government Labour Bureau to obtain work ' m tho North Island, and especially m tho Weilington-Taranaki district. Our contemporary, then proceeds to account for tho influx of those southern 'strangers, and the : statement and tho acdompanying comments are certainly, very .amusing. The Tost saya ; — "A gentleman who ia m a position 'to know, although not officially

1 connected with tbe Government, has] famished us with some information which affords anexplanationj and goes to prove that the services of the Bureau and the facilities for transit it affords are being taken advantage of m a manner never contemplated, and one which is really an abuse of the benefits intended for the actually unemployed. It ia stated that a large number of small farmers, m the Middle Island, have sought (through the, Bureau, for employment m the North, their real object bving to spy out the land. The Bureau finds work for them, and conveys them to it, and by a little judicious manoeuvring they manage to get sent from place to place, earning fair wages, and becoming .'acquainted with the conntvy, with a view to the future acquisition of land and settlement on it- when they find what will 6uit them. After a pleasant trip they return South either to resume theirfornier avocations, or to prepare for a permanent move to the North. If this kind of use is made of the Bureau, it is exceedingly wrong that it should be permitted. Free passages' should only be granted to those who' are really m want of work and cannot obtain it where they are. For the Government to carry : round well-to-do >. sett hits or their sons, who are on the look-out for land, under the pretence of their being ' unemployed,' is a gross abuse, and one which shpuld; be guarded against. It is perhaps bh advantage to the districts which now seem to be the Centre Of tali action tn:thooe (lesiruus of settling m the North Island, but it is cer tainly unjust to the rest of the colony." We are not very great admirers of this Government institution, the . idea of which,' by the bye, was 'filched m the meanest; manner from tbe Salvation Army. AGovernment organisation, whose special work is to assist m adjusting the supply of labour m any part of the colony to the demand, must m tbe nature of things always need careful watching by the outside public. The 'Bureau may sometimes do mischief ; the cost of the operations falls upon tbe general taxpayer ; and a door may be opened fov a little mild jobbery and a little fishing for political support. At the same time we admit that from all which we have heard about it, the Government interference has so far been beneficial to the class m whose interests it was initiated, and we see no reason for believing that there has been counterbalancing cvi). Ao for the "gentleman who is ia a position to know, although not officially connected with the Government," he either knows nothing about the matter, or he bus invented a story with which to cram the Evening Post. We do not attribute invention to the paper, but the story should have undergone some critical examination before being published. The assertion is not with regard to an isolated case of the kind complained of, or even of a very limited number of cases. The charge i 8 of a wholesale character. A large influx of unemployed southern labour is alleged. It bus been so great as to have created much surprise, on the part of the public, we presume ; and then it is alleged to be satisfactorily acconnted for by what would unquestionably be very mean and disgraceful conduct on the part of a multitude of " well-to-do settlers or tbeir sons." Clearly there must be a multitude of them according to the story-teller, or their alleged appearance would not have been put forward as accounting for the large influx. It will be noticed that the Evening Post is judiciously vague with reference to locality. These well-to-do settlers and tbeir sons, who have represented them selves as unemployed labourers, are from " the South." That may include the whole of this Island, or one or more districts. Our contemporary should have particularised at least up to the point of naming the Provincial District or Districts m which the farms of these fraudulent unemployed are situated Are the small farmers, say, of South Canterbury, " working the oracle " at the expense of the Government Labour Bureau, and spying out the northern land with a viewto . tile acquisition of more acres ? Really the " gentleman who knows" ought to have supplied so much information on such an interesting subject, and if he did supply it, the Evening Post ahbttld: have passed it on for the public benefit.' We have not heard of any great exodus from theße parts of well-to-do settlers or their sons, either disguised as unemployed or m their own proper character.