CO-OPERATIVE WORKS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12842, 27 November 1905, Page 3

CO-OPERATIVE WORKS.

To the Editor of the " Timaru Herald," Sir, —In on© ui Mr Hall-Jones's meeting* he is reported to Have stated that the average "wage of the men on the co-oper-ativ o •> orks w; . i - n little over eight shillings per aay. It- is true that on a certain railway mere were- some men paid eight shillings per day; but they -were mostly men wiio were in i :ie habit of bringing strong drink tin ;o tL-r- works. I thought it rich when I ie;id tJ;--;t Mr Hall-Jones had'skid, in oiie of h»s meetings, that he "favoured v.-.au*e So: 9 ..•! ;n-e- Licensing Bill, for-the Siiie cf 1 hif. ■.••••-operative' labourers; when iii.-t •.•wii insju ors encourage, the:.ihiEn'- T t6. Hi';- and in. return, put'them .on; soit'< jobs. When these men.tame up >ifter :: the Cln'i-s'mas .holidays,they-.brought gallons of'whisky with them. By:reducing tie pay the Government have done harm to' themselves ai good men ■will not stay on the works. But they have also hurt unskilled labour all over the colony, as private employers will naturally reduce the •wage too. We labourers whose homes are in the country know that few employers cared to give moVe than seven shillings a day, even when the standard wage was eight shillings a day. Now that the Government have reduced the pay, it is as like as not they may want, us to work for six shillings a day. I have often thought howlittle this Government ..has done for the labouring man; Take the case of a mar-ried-man in the country. If he-is not lucky enough to "own a little section of land, he generally "tries to rent, a house with ai small section, so that when work is-scarce he can put in his'time on. the , land: Before the > passing of the : Small Debts Act, should' sickness in his family occur, or in a dull time, the local storekeeper would assist him, until shearing time came round. But iow the have lost so mtuch through the passing of this Act, that they irill not trust any one at all. Then the man has to leave his home and seek employment on the Government works. If he lives, say, in the Waimate district, the cost of travelling either to the Otago Central or to the Midland—there and back—would take the gilt off a week's wages (there is 110 concession in rate of travelling for him). When t-heie he finds it hard work to keep himself in food, and an occasional pair of boots or other article of clothing, as stores ,are so dear. His wife, especially if she has a large family, also finds her, half inadequate, so she keeps the eldest girl from school, and either goes out, or takes in wort. Bye. and bye the truant officer come along with a summons. As a man in the country sometimes lives miles away from a courthouse, unless kind neighbours intervene, the wife has to leave her family and travel to the town, and when the man returns he finds his wife has been hauled before the magistrate and fined. For what.? . For trying to keep her family from starvation., .■ I am, etc., V LABOURER.

311 article published lately in olumns on co-operative labour, it ■ft : that, such labour -was on the .e that the strong should help the itr, Hall- Jones give a striking ~ilv lustnation ,* of the =. Premier's sympathy with: the principle ;at his at -";Grlieri-iti.r The previous evening Mr Rolleston, while speaking at Gleniti, had shown that the charges of half a crown a day for labour, which has been levelled' at the opponents of the Government every . election/ had been disproved, as by a reference to " Hansard" it had been shown that Mr Seddon had been equally responsible for the low; wages given on relief works. In proof he read: from a "Hansard" of that time, extracts from Mr Seddon's speeches in which it was clearly shown' that the proposal' to give single men two shillings and sixpence and married men three and sixpence for work near town, ajjd single men three shillings and sixpense and married men four and sixpence, for work in the country came from, Mr Seddon. Mr Hall-Jones, in trying to make out a good case for Mr Seddon, amongst other remarks, said that' Mr Seddon objected to ! the money ; being given .to the districts in lump sums, as it was found that some men could make nine shillings a day. Mr Seddon said that was never intended. A strong man and a. weak one must be put together, and what they made distributed between them. Mr Rolleston I (that is the present Mr' Rolleston's father) had objected to this, and had said the weak man had best go to. the Charitable Aid Boards and Mr Hall-Jones repeated with tears in his voice: "Mr Rolleston would send the poor men to the Charitable Aid Board rather than give him the chance of earning four or five shillings a day." . To me, this seems queer logic. But come to think of it, the Premier ia l in the same position*. He is a strong man working with weak ones, but he does not apply the principle, of co-opera-tive labour in his own case. So that there ia one law for the rich and another for the poor. I am, etc., - ■ '• PUZZLED. . {Our correspondent will no doubt admit that even if" Mr Seddon .-does appropriate, the biggest salary to. himself, yet :he does not starve his - weak colleagues. £IOOO a year with £2OO house allowance, not to mention travelling . allowances and travelling . expenses; would no .doubt satisfy a ' weak co-operative labourer;— Ed. T.H.] s : V^f:'