The Department of Industry.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7180, 3 June 1891, Page 2

The Department of Industry.

! Some people are holding up their hands in horror. They say cynically— " First effect of the labour depression— £Boo a year for the great Liberal party !" There might be something in this if the proposed department were a separate one ; but the Government have distinctly announced that they do not intend to increase the number o£ Ministers. Therefore there is not one penny more to anybody. All that there ia more is the addition to the load of work carried by the Ministerial shoulders. A less cheap and nasty criticism takes the

higher ground that Governments ought , not to meddle with these things and 1 cannot be trusted to do so ; it is an innova- 1 tion on ancient ideas, contrary to the ! wisdom of our ancestors ; a dangerous con* cession to the dangerous tendencies of the ; dangeroua classes. Let us see. Sir John i Gorst is a member of the Salisbury Govern- ■ ment ; Sir John Gorst has drawn up a social ' programme, and Sir John Gorst has com- ] pelled hiß party by a very adroit manoeuvre : to submit to a Eoyal Commission the serious work of collecting information to guide Parliament in legislating for his programme. The first item of that programme is employers' liability, the last is a Ministry of Labour. The two, the Alpha and the Omega, are connected together by an alphabet of items every one of which we have practically touched upon in New Zealand. The Tory Party aad the Liberals and Radicals — that is to say, the whole strength of political opinion in G reat Britain is directed towards the Ministry of Labour and the great department of industry which it should watch over. They are removing the reproach " De minimis" — why should we not ? In reality it is returning to the wisdom of our ancestors, which somehow ; we have forgotten in these modern days. j