The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1879.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 166, 22 May 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, MAY 22, 187 9.

In our last issue a working man pointed out the way in which men employed by contractors under the Highway Boards or County Councils are occasionally deprived of theft earnings, Say, for example, a Board lets a contract at a certain price, possibly .£IOO less than it can be honestly carried out for. There is a loss oil the contract, therefore, of that amount, and according to the usual order of things the contractor is out of pocket to that extent, But if the contractor, finding ho can make nothing out of his job, retires from the contract with what little money lie may have by liim, it would be naturally supposed that his sureties would be let in for the same. Nothing of the sort.

The .sureties tiike lip tlie assets of the contract, iiiul not being burdened with the liabilities of the contractor, they can finish the work without loss. In such a contract the Board is safe, the contractor saves himself, the sureties

are covered, and the only losers are perhaps the working men, who never see their wages. Our correspondent suggested as a cure for this evil that public bodies should make sureties for contracts responsible not only for the liabilities of the contract to the employer but also to the employed. We scarcely think that any local body will, go as far as this, though we feel certain.

that one and all have little sympathy with contractors who let their workmen, in, We think any workmen who tir& deprived of their wages should report the fact to the local body which let thecontract, and that such body should resolve that no tender from the, contractor in default should for the. future be deemed an eligible one. It is alike to the interests of employers and employees that contractors should be respectable and reliable, and any course which would tend to keep black sheep out of the lield deserves the support of both sides. But while a working man I let in by an impecunious contractor is

practically without redress in this colony, we do not for a moment hold that such should he the case, Wo are opposed to high wages, but wo helkive. that all the money a man earns as a laborer, be it much or be it little, should

be .secured to him in current cwin of the realm, and that no evasion of the obligation for such payment should be permitted, In America, we believe, the law provides for this, There, in practice, it is impossible for a carpenter or a roadman to be deprived of his wages, The law compels the owner of say a house that is being built to see that the builder pays every cent due to the men in his employ. The carpenter can by law look first to his employer, failing liiin he can come upon the proprietor of the premises, and, lastly, he can fall back upon the security of the premises themselves, Under such a. law Councils and lload Boards would bo compelled to protect the workmen engaged by their contractor, but in the absence of such a law we cannot expect them to do so. The great Premier Procun.su], who is the working man's friend, might have done some good for his supporters if, instead of feeding

them with empty promises, he had broughtilown some little measure whieh would have placed the laborer in the colony in a better position with his employer; if he had, in fact, taken t leaf out of American legislation in thi direction. But we look in vai to Sir George Grey for anything bi

pushing garrulity, and must wait for another ruler before tlie rights of labor can be put on a more satisfactory footing than they are at present,

We remind our renders of the bull at Clayson's Cafe Itoyal to.-morrow evening. Mr James Thompson has taken ovei the shop and bakery establishment recently occupied by Mr Prentice.

A special meeting of tlic Grcytomi Borough Council was lielcl on Tuesday, for the purpose of adopting the Balance Sheet. A discussion took place as to whether the Council could adopt the Balance Sheet, as the late Local Board had failed to meet to certify to the correctness of its accounts. It was ultimately resolved—That the Chairman be instructed to sec the Chairman of the late Local Board, with a view of getting the accounts certified to.

An inquest was held yesterday liy Br. Spratt, District Coroner, at the Club Hotel, Masterton, on the late lire in Bentley-street. The inquiry was made at the request of Mr R. Bruce Wallace, of the National Insurance Company, the the underwriters having, we understand, in every instance decided on having inquests whenever they can get them, irrespective of a reasonable expectation of eliciting information by the process. In the present case all the jury could do was to discover that Mr Hutton had not had his chimney swept for twelve months, and to embody this statement in their verdict, which, as might have been expected, declared that certain premises were burnt 011 May 10th, and that there was 110 evidence to show how the fire originated,

Down South they are beginning to liken bakers to Colorado beetles—what next?

At a meeting of tiio creditors of Mr James Harvey, of the Camp, held yesterday, an offer of 20s in the £ guaranteed by quarterly instalments, was made and accepted. Mr Ike's coach last night was delayed through the accidontal fracture of the pole at Carterton. A sudden shy on the part' of one of the leaders was the cause of tho mishap. It has been notified by the Masterton Town Clerk that E. Braggins J. Cafl'ry, H. Jones, J. Kite, W. Dixon, T. AVilton and W, Watson have taken out carters' licenses for the current year.

Mr J. Huxley is aboutto close his branch establishment at Grey town. The Volunteers arc at loggerheads with him oyer their uniforms, and it is an open question whether the corp3 willyetbeduly equipped on her Majesty's Birthday, The wife of a Masterton tradesman changed, one day this week, a clicquo for £l2 for a person she knew, Being however slightly suspicious, slie.it once sent it to the Bank, where it was dishonored. Slic then sent for the person who had given her the cheque, who regretted that ho could not take it back, as he had paid away the change he had received from her. The lady, however, said that if the money were not returned she would give her customer over into the charge of the police. The money was forthcoming, and the lady triumphed. It wants a few more members of the fair sex to bo engaged in business matters to put a stop to the circulation of bad paper. We have been called upon by a representative of the firm of C. W. Nicholls & Co., Springfield, Mass., U.S.A., who, we arc informed, intend to open a branch agency in the colony for the supply of American books, &c., and while certain arrangements are being completed tlicy are introducing a work entitled " Our First Century." This work is written by R. M. Dovens, an American author, who has (spent eleven years in preparing it for the public. It treats of one hundred subjects, which describe the mechanical, scientific, and commercial advancement of that country, and in such a manner that it is both a history and cyclopedia. Tho work is well printed and fairly illustrated, and should find a ready sale, for considering the volume lias over a thousand pages, the price asked for it does not seem extravagant. Orders arc now being ob-

tained in this vicinity. Tlio following amusing story is from a Homo papsrA lady named Mrs Gould was anxious to assist in decorating a certain church, and thinking an inscription would be most suitable, instructed her husband while in town to procure one, He, of course, forgot tlio inscription, and sent a message to his wife to that effect. The telegraphists in town were considerably puzzled when tlio following message from Mrs Gould was taken off:-" Unto us a child is born, nine feet long, by two feet broad," " A Church Debt raiser" is the latest developement of American civilisation. The method seems to be for tlio " raiser" to got into a church and preach and pray straight on til! a large sum is obtained. Mr Edward Kimball is the leader of these " debt raisers,"and the other Saturday'ho began in a Presbyterian Church in Rhode Island and went oil till one o'clock oil Sunday morning. He raised 10,000 dollars towards the clearing off the debt, and we hope was well paid for his professional services. The liqudators for the City of Glasgow Bank might come to arrangement with Kimball, who would doubtless he ready to "raise" tlio debt of the bank for a consideration.

The " Loyal Sons of America" (says the New York Herald) will hold a celebration at Medusa, N, Y., on the 4th of July. There arc to be an encampment, athletic sports; and masquerade parades of a patriotic and historic nature Boston, Brooklyn, and New York will furnish most of the " Sons." The Society was organised in 1871 in this State by eight schoolboys, averaging 14 years of age. At present every State is represented in its junenilo councils. There are wigwams ill every city and in many towns, an elaborate system of grips and aignals, and a perfect discipline. Candidates for initiation must by young men of American birth, of irreproachable character, not less that 10 nor more than 25 years old. In this city the chief wigwam is in the Florence building, at the corner of Second Avenue and First street, where meetings are held oil the first and Tuesdays of each month, and the Sooiety has an aggregate membership of 10,000 boys, Its objects are fraternal and patriotic.

It was the custom in Babylon, five hunched pears before the Christian era, to have an annual auction of unmarried ladies, In every year on a certain stated day, caeh district assembled all its marriageable virgins of marriageable age. The most beautiful were put up first, and the man who paid the highest price gained possession of her. The second in personal charms followed her, and so on, that the bidders might gratify themselves with handsome wives, according to the length of their purses. There might on these occasions yet remain in Babylon some for whom no money was offered; but the provident Babylonians managed that. When all tlio comely ones were sold, the criers ordered the most deformed one to stand up, and after demanding who would marry her for a small sum, she was adjudged to him who was satisfied with the least. In this maimer the money raised from the sale of the handsome, served its a portion for those who were either of disagreeable looks, or had any other imperfection.

People nre beginning to inquire how it is the Zulus are getting such good supplies of some of our best rifles antl breechloaders (says an English paper), A questions was put to the Government in the House the other night in connection with this subject and the answer was that such a matter required the co-operation of the several Continental Powers in order to put a stop to the practice. After the above wo read this in the newspapers. A firm In Whitechapel are busily engaged in manufacturing arms for the use of the Zulus. To this assertion a member of the firm alluded to writes to the papers to say that the business in which he fs employed is that of converting the percussion rifles into old ilint-lock. muskets for South Africa, none of which can possibly fall into the hands of the Zulus!