11.—BEFORE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11729, 2 December 1905, Page 2

11.— BEFORE.

So gradually have the various Labour Acts beon added to the Statute Book, that it is somewhat difficult to realise what was tlie condition of tho workers before the Liberals came into power, and when Labour was (as in other places it si ill is) at the mercy of the capitalist. There was no such thing as a

WEEKLY HALF-HOLIDAY, and shop and factory hours were whatever might bo agreed upon between employer and employee, such hours being as may well be imagined, in the great majority of cases, entirely to the benefit of the former. Young persons of practically any age might be, and often enough were, EMPLOYED FOR VARYING LENGTHS OF TIME WITHOUT BEING PAID ANY WAGES AT ALL, and without any precautions bearing either upon good health or good morals. In shops, while the best of sitting accommodation was always provided for the customer, THE GIRL BEHIND THE COUNTER MUST REMAIN ON HER FEET THE LIVE-LONG DAY, her employer's thoughtfulness usually beginning and ending at the comfort of the purchaser of his merchandise.

THE PAYMENT OF WAGES, too, did not receive the attention that it ought to have received from employers, there being nothing to prevent the payments taking place in long and uncertain intervals. Some employers when they did pay, settled by contra, that is, THEY PAID IN GOODS FROM THEIR

STOCK, the full retail piice being of course requirod from the assistant, and in many cases much more. Sometimes through the bankruptcy of a contractor liis workmen might lose all but a fraction of their outstanding wages, the principal employer quietly entering into possession of a finished or nearly completed work, while the WORKMEN WHO PRODUCED IT

WERE SENT AWAY UNPAID. At other times tlie failure of the principal employer himself not unfrequenth caused hardship both to contractor and hands.

Seeing that all past legislation was the work chiefly of lawyers, landowners, and capitalists, it is not to be wondered at that such legislation was exceedingly favourable to these classes, or that THE RIGHTS OF LABOUR, AS THEN

LAID DOWN, DID NOT EXTEND MUCH BEYOND THE RIGHT TO TOIL — if it even extended that far. Thus, whilst capitalists might combine to fix the rates of wages in certain occupations, similar combinations of workmen for the purpceo of forcing better terms from their employers were always in danger of being treated, as acts of conspiracy, an offence which, when proved, involves consequences of a very serious nature. On the other hand, when a dispute did arise between capital and labour, NO MACHINERY EXISTED TO PRE-

VENT AN INDUSTRIAL WAR, in which one side or the other would be forced to extremities; and that side was almost invariably that of the workers. Time and space would fail in enumerating- tha disabilities under which the unprotected worker suffered. And to put the crown on all, when he or she was unable longer to earn a livelihood, there was NOTHING LEFT BUT THE BENEVO-

LENT INSTITUTIONS, where, destitute, and dependent, those in the vigour of manhood, or womanhood, contributed their quota to the national wealth, kept soul and body together for a few unhappy years by "charitable aid."

WAS THERE NO NEED for legislative interference to protect the workers? Have not the Government who interfered to protect Labour earned the workers' gratitude? He would be a bold

man who would give to cither of these questions a negative answer.