JUDGE GRESSON ON THE LABORING CLASSES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 25, 18 October 1873, Page 11

JUDGE GRESSON ON THE LABORING CLASSES.

The following is the full text of Mr Justice Gresson in reference to the above subject, made in the course of his address to the Canterbury Grand Jury : — It is ueplorable that so many frauds should have been committed at such a time, when there is such a scarcity ot labor that all who are willing tind able to work may find employment at highly remunerative wages lam persuaded that so long as the present demand for lubor continues (and I have no reason to doubt, its continuance,) an agricultural laborer of sober and proxident habits may, in a few year?, become a small farmer — the owner of a freehold acquired by his own savings, witli more of independence and of the comforts of life about him, and greater lacility for educating hi>. family, than ne couU have acquired iv any part oi the United K.iigdom by a long life of unremitting toil and privation. I must admit that there is another side of the picture ioo often witnessed in this Colo uy, lor winch however tlie individuul him»elf and not the Colony is responsible. It very often happens tliat the laborer and mechanic, finding thab they can earn here much more than enough to support their daily wants, either work only half time or spend their earnings in the public house, thus misting their substance, injuring tlieir health, and leaving their families in a much worse position than if they were leceiving the .vhole of tlieir earnings at lower wages. I think that the forgeries and embezzlements "vhich have become frequent in this and other districts, fire mainly attributable to this spirit of self-indulgence and extravagance which are caused by the abuse of high wages. Not that" I desire to ?ee the .standard reduced below the highest rate tliat farmers and other erop'oyers can afford to pay. What Ido earnestly desire, iv common with those wlio have at heart the best interests of the Colony, aud of the working-men, whoso interests are identified with it, is, that they would avail themselves of the opportunities which vhis country uudoubtedly affords, of ,-ealizing an independence by steady industry aud frugality, and of educating tlieir children in such a manner na to fit them for the honorable position to which they may reasonably hope to attain in this most promising Colony. As a proof of the thirst of the Irish foi knowledge, and the difficulties which are overcome by perseverance, Anderson in his sketches of the Irish says, " Clii.dren have been kuown to acquire the first elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic, without a book, without a pen, without a slate ! And indeed the place of meeting was none other than a graveyard. The long flat stones, with their inscriptions, were used instead of books, while a bit of chalk, and the gravestones together, served for all the rest." This also was a means of Youag Pat acquiring a knowledge of the dead languages.