THE LABOR QUESTION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 202, 4 July 1879, Page 2

THE LABOR QUESTION.

To the Editor of the Waiuak.U'a Daily

Sir—Will you oblige nieliy iiisertiiigthe following in youml liable puper. In regard to your leader of tlie 25th inst. I noticed particularly the fragnienls of a letter, written apparently by a fellow-workman, on the labor question. First of all lie says, " What good would the public expression on such views do ?" To my mind it would do an immense deid of good. It 13 by exchanging such views through the medium of newspapers that questions of such a nature are more particularly forwarded. It is a far easier method generally for .1 man to express his opinions—more decided and 'less restrained—by writing than by mutual exchange of words. He also says, " What chance would the employee have against his more intelligent employer! " ' That argument will not hold good, sir oly because there is a fair sprinkling of intelligent laborers all over the Colony equal in general knowledge to the employers; and as for the rest of his logic with regard to wet blankets, mutton, bread, etc., it is, as you say, all nonsense, and does not affect the question in the slightest degree. lam a station hand myself—a £1 a week man —and I have always been able to live respectably. But before going into the abstract of the labor question, I think we ought to look at home first, and see if the laborer himself is not .1 gieat deal to blame for the low rate of wages. It has come under my notice, as a station hand, that the laborer in his leisure hour has no inclination (or, with few exceptions) to read or study such questions which materially affect him ; no, but ask him to take a band at "euchre" or " pnker," and he is your man. I think his time might be better spent, and the reaction he receives from such: pleasure does certainly not help to retain his intelligence. A laboring man at £1 per week is very well able to develop such faculties as God has endowed him with, and to put him on a fair footing with his employer, so far as intelligence is concerned. Then the laborer has a fault of putting the blame on the wrong persons; fiist you will hear them say "It is the fault of the foreigners ; they work for lower wages than us, and make it bad for the vest." That is another mistaken notion. The foreigner is naturally placed at a disadvantage ; tho language is strange to him, customs and habits different to what lie is used to, and he must consequently work for lower wages than a skilled Colonial workman. Many of our fellow-laborers have only one object in view, that of making a £2O or £3O cheque, and then having a." jolly good spree." The object is a bad one, and carries retribution with it. After such sprees be comes back to the employer a forlorn, destitute subject, with dazed vision and shaking hands, dissipation stamped in every feature. Sow I ask you,-Mr Editor, is it likely that a man in such a condition will gain high wages 1 Certainly not; no employer can have faith or respect for such a laborer.; that is what makes him unfit to compete with 1 his "more intelligent employer." Let the laborer see his faults in their proper light and try to develope his better faculties and think seriously over the labor question; make himself fit to' use logic and reason sensibly by words and pen, and it is my firm belief that a deal of good might accrue from it. One of England's great men, Sir Francis Bacon, has said, " Reading maketh a full man,conference a ready man, and writing an exact man." It would be well for the laborer to bear that in mind.

Apologising for thus trespassing on your valuable space.—l remain, etc., W,'.H,