The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1895.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 1706, 20 March 1895, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1895.

■ \V!e dare say that bur reader \a\\l \ Remember a statement which was niade some months ago to the effect that run-holders and the . class of large agriculturists were , curtailing their general expendit ure, and especially their wages- | sheet, for the purpose of intensifying the prevailing depression and t thus bringing odium on the Goyern- ' ment by frustrating ; the efforts of the latter to improve the" condition of the working men of the colony. We do not know how. this story was , set a going, but once it was started 1 it was repeated times without 1 number, and we suppose that there are people foolish enough to believe it. Then for a while we heard nothing further of this alleged [ depravity, and it might have been j imagined either that the offenders ; had seen the error of their ways , and had gone back to their former level of expenditure, or that the uselessness of exposing them had been r recognised and that the attack had ; consequently been abandoned. With ■ the approach of winter and an m•- • creasing slackness m the labour r market, the story has been revived. The Premier, when speaking the other day at Wanganui, said :— " " He hoped that it was not true 1 that land-holders were shutting up j their estates and refusing to employ t men m order that they might banish the Government. If that were so and the people were to be starved into submission it was • abominable, 5 and it would be all the worse for the land-holders. He would remind the land-holders of what' Stephenson said would happen if the 'coo' got m the way of the railway. However, he did not believe that the land-holders would be so foolish." If the Premier did not give credit to the story, or if he did not desire that it should be accepted by his hearers as something that was at least based upon fact, why did he mention it, and why, more particularly, did he threaten the landowne^with destruction if they attempted "to starve the people into submission " ? For m such a connection, pointed allusion to the old chesnut about George Stephenson and the "coo" was nothing short of a- threat. " If," said the Premier m effect, " you spend less money on your land for the pur- . pose of injuring the workers and setting them against the Government, your fate will be that of a beast run down by a railway engine." We are afraid that, m spite of his disclaimer, we must hold the Premier guilty of having raked up the story about the land-owners merely for party purposes. Since the Wanganui speech was delivered we have seen several allusions to this drawing m of the purse-strings of the land-owners. One paragraph, with reference to the condition of „ pertain small settlers at Eketahuna, said that they were m considerable trouble on account of the scarcity of employment, and the complaint ended thus : — " What road work there was is now finished, and it is stated that the run-holders have, for political reasons, buttoned up their pockets, ceased to improve their estates, and are employing no labour. Consequently some of the settlers are m great straits for want of money." Yet again, a person wljo has been organising and agitating m the North Island m connection with the New Zealand Workers' Union, and has just reported to his employers, " condemned the attitude which he said large run-holders had taken up, who, because of their bitterness and antagonism towards the present Government, had made the workers sufferers, by refusing to supply travellers with food and accommodation, employing Maori labour m preference to white labour, and reducing the number of their employes." The fact of a lessened expenditure, not only by large landowners but by employers of labour m almost every department of industry and m almost every part of the colony, is something which wo are afraid cannot be denied ; but it appears to us manifestly absurd to attribute this increased economy to a desire either to damage the workers, or through their distress to bring'discredit on the ' Government. If a land-owner, a merchant, or a shopkeeper, has money m hand and sees his way to employing it with a fair prospect of return, he is not going to let it lie idle for the purpose of doing injury to the Government. It is simply ridiculous to state that such a thing is being done or that it has ever been thought of. It is sometimes alleged by those who are friendly to the Opposition that the lessened expenditure is caused by bond fide distrust of the policy of the Government—that men are really afraid of the tendency of much of the legislation which has been already accomplished, and are yet more m

dread of what is to come. There may be something m statements of that sort; The policy is certainly not of a character to instil confidence into the mind of any sane man who has money, to invest. But the main root of the evil complained of lies m the fact that the spending power of the community is not what it was a few years ago. Large land-owners and small landowners, merchants, shopkeepers, etc., etc., earn infinitely less than they used to. They see a somewhat gloomy future before them, and they 'ear that if they "do not set their house m order they may find themselves m the Insolvent Court. That is a state of affairs that prevails all over New Zealand. Caution and economy are more than ever recognised as necessary by those whose current accounts, are well m credit, and who are under the thumb of no man. But are there not multitudes of people everywhere who are not quite m that happy position, and multitudes more who, though perfectly free at the present moment, can hardly venture to predict how long they will continue so? Are there not multitudes on the land and m places of business who go m fear and trembling, and esteem themselves fortunate if by cutting here and paring there they can continue to make both ends meet ? It is notorious that suet is the state of the country ; and that being so, it is enough tc make a dead donkey laugh to be told that any class of people m the colony are lessening their expendi ture for the purpose of spiting the Government by setting the working njen against them. We have askec several questions, and we shall adc one more to the list :— ls it reason able to expect the usual employers of labour to outrun their discretion— to outrun the constable we may as well say— for the purpose of giving a fictitious appearance of success tc the policy of the Seddon Govern ment and especially to the fads o the Minister of Labour ? The thing is not to be thought of. The monej at command will not run to such i Bedlamlike programme. The largi land-owners and the rest will con tinue to cut their coat according t< the cloth, and no threats from th< Premier and no falsehoods by labou agitators will alter the shape o make of the national garment.