THE UNEMPLOYED QUESTION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12122, 2 August 1895, Page 3

THE UNEMPLOYED QUESTION.

1 TO THE EDITOR. ' Sir,— Several able articles have appeared r in your journal lately on the above " burn- ' ing question," and I have read Bonie in other popers also, but none abler or weightier than that in the " Grey Biver Weekly Argus " of the 26th inst., a journal 1 that strongly supports the Seddon Ministry, and the principal proprietor of which (an M.L.C.) is a creature of K:ng Eiohard IV , and a thick and thin supporter of the present Liberal (? Government). The article referred to is so temperate in tone and, furthermore, states the case so plainly and forcibly that I ask you to re-produce it in extenso, feeling sure that numbers of electors in this district, Liberals as we'l as so called Conservatives, will read it with pleasure and profit. I make no apology, therefore, for trespassing on your Bpace on so important a question as the starving hundreds, who, during this bitter winter season are crowding the streets of our larger towns j who ai c tramping the country districts in search of work, food, ana shelter, whilst our sapient legislators at the great talking-shop up in Wellington ore wasting preoious time, and their energies over '• Factory Acts, Truck Acts, ConciliaItion Acts, and all the rest of such rubbishy legislation," to say nothing of several days wastSd In white-washing our Honourable (save the mark ?) Colonial Treasurer, after his cunning deceptions in London and telling " fairy tales " about New Zealand finances and the three million " unpledged securities."— l am, &o, An Elector. Wanganui, July 30th. Despite the best'of all Governments, it is a most melancholy reflection that depression prevails in all parti of the colony, and men are in want of employment. The telegrams daily teU us of tbe efforts that are being made in Dunedin and Christchurch to overtake and deal with tho prevalent destitution. But co part of the colony seems to be free from the prevailing industrial gloom that hangs over us. There is very little difference between the North and South Island Thn unemployed flood the land in all directi -ns All our highways and byways are infested with tramp 3, and in the towns there are able bodied men who would be only too glad to get work ol any Kind to do. A paragraph in an exchange the other day informs us that business in Christchurch is in a state of utter stagnation, and unmistakeable signs of distress aud poverty are visible on every hand. This is a sad picture. What obtains in the city of the Plains must obtain more or less in all other parts bf the colony. Speaking for ourselves, we know as an absolute matter of fact that scores of West Coast boys who have arrived at man's estate, and equal to any work, are haunting the streets of Wellington in the vain . endeavour to find some remunerative employment' Parents, unable to find anything for their grown up sons to do, send them off to Wellington, Auokland, Dunedin, or elsewhere as fancy dictates and what is the result? They have to periodically remit money for the maintenance of their offspring. This is a very sad state of things, but unhappily it is too true. There is surely something wrong in the state of Denmark. We certainly cannot complain of tba want of legislation. We have that in abundance on all conceivable subjects that it is possible to legislate on. We are really getting weary of this tiresome, panacea of legislation. It has become too monotonous altogether. What the people want is work. They want something practical whereby they may live and carry obt the order of their being. But this is just what they are unable to get. While we gladly afford all praise to Government for their Liberal aspirations, we cannot close our eyes to the fact that if the colony is to thrive there must Be industry. There is now no industry. Theprevabingsfagnar.{ion is ro 'obvious that it confronts the Most hopefull everywhere. It is surely time that Government braced themselves to the duty of finding some way by which the idle hands of the colony may be emplyed. The fact is stark aod staring. While we are prepared to give every credit to the Government for their efforts to improve the position of the colony '-'-and benefit the people, the sad fact remains that the great mass of people— the real workers-4-are no better off to day than than were four years ag*. In the face of such a condition of "things, what is the good of labour bills and all other fanciful legislation. . The elements of prosperity for a people ao not lie in statues. What in earth iB the use of the Faotory Act, Truck Act, Conciliation Act, and all the rest of suoh rubbishy legislation, if the men have no work to do? The fertile brains of the Minister for Labour, we 'have no doubt, is quite equal to the production of a sheaf more of the clas3 cf bills that he has already produced. But in the present condition of the Colony thoy are no mora avail than so much waste paper. Our Government has struck out- many new .lipes; but there is one. direction on which they have not as yet adventured. Their co-operative system has been a dismal failure, as everyone with a grain of sense predicted would be the case, The only tendency of the system has been to emasculate What moral fibre was inherent in the class of workers, and reduce them to the degraded position of slaves dependent upon a Government that undertook. to look after the welfare of the masses on mistaken lines. It is quite impossible that the Colony can hope to go on satisfactorily as' it is going. We may have surpluses and'all tbe rest of of such financial puzzles ; but when we lack the real essential of healthy aad honest prosperity who are we to look to as responsible, but the Government of the day? tM_M__H-_MnanH-MMi