The Waikato Times. THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1879.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1027, 23 January 1879, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1879.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political. • ♦ • * « Here shall the Press the People’s right maintain, Dhawed by influence and unbribed by gain.

From all parts of the colony comes the same cry, that enterprise is crippled, and that the ordinary business of capitalists in all branches is hindered by the scarcity ef labor. Nor is the want confined to a single class of labor, bat would appear to run mere or less through all handicrafts. At one time the navvies or the platelayers, at another the carpenters, bricklayers, or painters, as has recently been the case in different parts of the colony, strike for higher wages, and there is a general inability to enter on lesser public undertakings, as instanced in a telegram published to-day from Dunedin, in consequence of tenders sent in being so much in excess of the estimated cost of works. And this does not arise entirely from the increased rate of wages demanded by those who would be engaged by contractors on such works; material also of all kinds has risen in price on account of the increased cost of production, showing how general the scarcity of labor really is. As each ship arrives the immigrants aro absorbed into the working population and yet the demand is as far from being met as ever. From the Ist July to the end of November, the Government has shipped, from Great Britain, some seven thousand immigrants, and by far the larger number of these most have been, by this time, landed in the colony, and with the result that we have stated. It is quite clear, that with the large extent of public works,the construction of which it is intended shall be spread over the next few years, immigration must be extered into more freely by the Government if the ordinary work and progress of the colony are not to be seriously interfered with. There is a point at which enterprise must stop, when capital will cease to gain by investment, a state of things as bad for the laborer as the capitalist, and this, in very many cases, has been nearly reached. Ths first to feel this state of things is an agricultural district, for the value of the farmer's produce is less affected by local prosperity aud the high price of wages than that of others. While exceptional circumstances raise the price of his labourers wages upon him, influences which are in no way local affect the prices, of the produce he has for sale, The value of his wheat, wool and other grain is little affected by extra demand at home, but is averaged in price by the state of markets thousands of miles away. Bat for the labor saving machines which have of late years been introduced into the colony, it is quite impossible that our farmers, in either island, could have continued, as they have done, to hold their own against the growing cost of production. it seems that at the present time the means for remedying thia state of things, which the condition of the labor market in the mother country affords, should be taken advantage of. Hundreds and thousands of workmen of different handicrafts, and agricultural laborers in the Eastern counties, have been thrown out of employment, and the Agent-General should have just now, what seldom occurs, the opportunity of picking and chosiug the best workmen of any class that may be desired, taking only men and women of the best physique aud character, and in the prime of life. If a moderate number of such immigrants were at once despatched by steamers they • wruld arrive at least a couple of months before the setting in of the winter, nor, indeed, as far as* the experience of the last winter goes, does the season make much difference in the demand for labor. The scarcity has been felt continually for many months past. Nor is it likely to be less so. Large quntities of land throughout the cdony are being taken in hand for purposes of reclamation and settlement, and much more would be done in this direction, were labor reasonably procurable— Many blocks of land, indeed, are waiting to be surveyed, simply on account of the impossibility of obtaining the services of surveyors and their men, and the Colony, as statistics show, has entered on a development of its resources, which bids fair to keep labor of all kinds fairly employed. Care, of course, would need to be taken not to overdo the thing, but there is little fear that auy iocregse4 energy on, the Part of

the immigration department would be carried to that extent. It is far

more likely to fall short in the other direction, and is indeed limited within reasonable bounds by the rote of the legislature. What is specially needed is, to take advantage of the present crisis at home, ani secure what the colony never yet has secured, as a whole, in the matter of immigration/fair vnluefor its money.