The Wanganui Chronicle AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." FRIDAY, AUGUST 1.2,. 1893.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11610, 12 August 1892, Page 2

The Wanganui Chronicle AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." FRIDAY, AUGUST 1.2,. 1893.

The first annual report on the Bureau of Industries, prepared by Mr Tregear, and submitted by him to the Minister for Labour, for presentation to Parliament," is an interesting document — interesting mainly because of the tables, papers, and maps attached to it. Little more than a ■page ofthe report is devoted tc the operations of the Labour Bureau proper during the year, while an equal amount of space is taken up with the advocacy of proposals for the establishment of State farms and the extension of the Bureau work. Half a dozen papers are occupied with information concerning factories — returns showing the numbers employed in the various trades, the average wages earned, and the number of unpaid apprentices engaged ; also .statistics.- concerning persons - for whom employment was found by the Bureau of Industries foi the nine months from the date onw.hicb.it was established lip to the end Of March last. Four pages supply .-information .concernirig the condition of labour in Europe together with s detailed particulars as to whatconstitntes a day's work in different places, and the rates of wages paid for varying descriptions „of skilled .and . unskilled labour. Four tabular pages are occupied in furnishing tue average rates of wages for all kinds of labour in each provincial district in this colony for the year 1891 ; and also for the same period, and for the same places, the average prices of produce, live-stock, and provisions. The maps attached to the report show the States in America where labour bureaux are established and the dates of their establishment. The cost of the preparation of the report is not stated, but- the expanse of printing 1800 copies of it is given by the Government Printer as .£l9 ss. We are not disposed to cavil at tho cost, as the information supplied is, doubtless authentic as well as comprehensive, and ifc is certainly exceedingly interesting. Indeed, so far as supplying useful information on the subject of labour is concerned, the Bureau justifies its establishment. But when it goes a long way further, and not only puts men m the way of finding work but finds' work at tbe public cost for such as are neither indigene nor helpless, it then becomes a question as to whether it is not doing more harm than gootl- We confess that we would not like to sea ith.e Labour Burea abolished ; we would much prefer to give it a legitimate trial, and to watch the result. Conducted within certain lines it cannot be otherwise than beneficial to the State. ■ Operating beyond those lines, tbere le danger that it my destroy the independence and self-reliance of the people. So long as the Stite accepts the responsibility of finding workfor whoever may be unemployed, the Labour Bureau will have the unemployed' on its hand*. Only a few- weeks ago a large number of printers gathered together in Wellington from all parts of New Zealand, and some from Australasia, and a demand was mado that they should all be taken _on i at the Government Printing Office ; arid' we understand they were so taken on. Whether anybody was injured by them being added to the staff, which the Government Printer himself apparently thought was as large as the .conveniences and resources of the office would permit j of being employed, or whether work of no urgent or immediate importance had to be undertaken in order to give them amploj'ment, we do not know. But it is clearly obvious that there must bo a Jimit to this sort of thing. Let it be but understood that tho lJew Zealand Government considers itself responsible for finding employment for nil men who are willing to wo.tp and who have nothing to [ do, and Australia will be able to keep j the ranks of our unemployed filled for all J time to come. It must be remembered that the money wherewith to employ all

those people must either be borrowt-d or coma out of the taxation of the rest of the people. If a lot cf people oat of work were to concentrate themselves in Wanganui, nobody .•would; ftrgue that the Borougn .authorities- ! would find them work and, pay for^-it .out of the moneys contributed by the ratepayers. Yet the principle is the same — in so far as it affects the taxpayers — whether applied tn a solitary Borough- or to the colony as a whole. In thiß -connection, a passage from the speech of Mr M. J. S. Mackenzie in the Financial Statement debate, ia worth reproducing. . Mr Scobte Mackenzie says'." — < - -•- Is it riot,' Task, a significant thin? that such tremendous demands should be.made on the Labour Bureau at the very time when, according to the Ministry, the colony is in the highest degree of prosperity ? Is-it'not'a remarkable thing that more unemployed are taking advantage of. the various Bureaux in a time of high prosperity, according to. tho honourable gentlemen there, than was the casa in the very depths- of our worst depression ? And if it' taxes our resources to keep Labour ' Bureaux going on now, giving the unemployed highei wages than the taxpayers who support- them caii earn themselves— if it taxes our resources to do it in a time of the, highest prosperity, I sho.uld like to ask the House, how is it possible that we can keep -them' going at a time of adversity? What is the Bureau doing now ? It is giving, in our socalled prosperity, employment 1 ' and high, wages to the-, people of * the Australasian Colonies ; arid in the time of adversity it will not give employment, to our own people. When the day of deficiencies comes I should,. like to .«ee the Government co to the taxpayers and- say, " Wo want a certain sum over and above the, taxation heaped upon you, in order to give. higher wages to the unemployed iban you can earn yourselves." I should' like to see the honourable gentleman try it. The Bureau is a. fair-weather sort of thing. It can be carried-.on when tbere is a surplus in the public revenue, but it must. inevitably fail when the day of deficiencies comes, and when therefore, it will be most wanted.