The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1905. EIGHT HOURS FOR STATE WORKMEN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12602, 16 September 1905, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1905. EIGHT HOURS FOR STATE WORKMEN

We may be wrong, but we take it that the excellent reception and the spontaneous declaration of confidence which Mr. J. T. Hoaan received from the

electors of Aramoho on Wednesday evening last was due in a large measure to his; championship of the claim of the railway men for an eight hours day. We do not like Mr. Hogan's political colour, we count as worthless the sort of independence which he proclaims, but in this matter of an eight hours day for the railway men we are in complete sympathy with him. It is a lasting discredit to the Seddon Government that it has consistenly and persistently refused to extend to the State Departments the regulations and resti ictions which it has imposed upon private employers. The Premier and his colleagues are wont, with a good deal of ludicrous egotism to point to New Zealand as an example of social and industrial perfection which the world in general would do well to follow; but, strangely enough, they fail tr> see how inconsistent their attitude must appear to the publicists of other countries. Mr. Seddon would probably curl his lip were anyone to suggest to him that 'Spain is more honestly democratic than New Zealand, but it was in March, 1902, tahat the "Chronicle" published a cable message from Madrid which read: "Spanish workmen employed in State domains, mines, and manufactories have been granted eight hours a day." And in New Zealand in September, 1905, the man who boats that he has championed the cause of labour compels many hundreds of the men who work for the State to toil for nine and ten hours and pays a considerable proportion of them less than Bs. a day. We quite agree with Mr. Hogan that the State ought to be the model employer. With the tremendously increased cost of living in this colony, for which the Seddon Government is very largely responsible, 6s. or vs. a clay is not one whit better than what would be regarded as a sweating wage in the Mother Country. If this is fair argument, and we are confident that the workers will regard it as suclr, then obviously Mr. Seddon, as the chief administrator of the public services of New Zealand, stands condemned as one of the biggest, most exacting, and most unyielding "sweaters" in the British

Empire. What sort of an example is he to employers whose lot is cast in the field of fierco industrial and commercial competition? To them he says, "You must work your men less, you mxist pay them more for doing less. The competition against which you have to contend is nothing to me. lam the champion of the working man." To his Minister for Railways he says, "You, sir, must make the railways pay. You have no competition to meet; you have a monopoly of the whole colony, but you must screw the last penny out of the lines in order that my surplus may bo swelled. Yes, sir, you must work your men more and pay them less. Go and run the railways on business lines, and don't bother me about your guards and firemen and the crowd of 7s. a day labourers. But, stay, ah, yes, the elections are at hand. Perhaps it would bo as well to promise them what they want. After all, it will only mean one more promise to be kept steadily in view." Is it any wonder that employers of labour arc sick of a Government which has for so long perpetrated .so gross an inconsistency? Is it surprising that a young n'.an like Mr. Hogan, himself a railway man, should feel himself compelled to cry out against the "sweating" of so many of his fellow employees, even though he pledges himself to kiss the hand which spueezes them? And what more natural than that the railway suburb, once a stronghold of the sitting member, should spontaneously accord. to the youthful but earnest champion of tho long-hour-ar.d-low-wage railway men a vote which was at once indicative of its confidence in him and of its distrust of mere Ministerial promises? Add to the fact that Aramoho extended a most enthusiastic welcome to Mr.'Hogan, the report that the suburb turned a distinctly cold shoulder to Mr. Willis a few evenings previously, and it will be seen that the Liberal situation is a trifle complicated. Perhaps matters might be amicably settled at a garden party. We feel sure that both Mr. Willis and Mr. Gatenby would be willing to place their lovely gardens at the disposal of the Premier for so patriotic a purpose, and Mr. Culver would no doubt be delighted to send out the invitations. In the meantime, says the "Herald," let us devoutly pray for the safe passage of the Absolute Majority Bill!