THEIR OWN FAULT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 52, 20 April 1888, Page 17

THEIR OWN FAULT.

BE interview of the representatives of the workingmen with Sir Harry Atkinson at Ohristchurch has been a topic of interest daring the last few days. But, as to what took place there, a prudent man, having no particular bias in the matter, would probablj be of the opinion expressed by Sir Roger db Coverlet on a wellknown occasion, that there was much to be said on both sides. Undoubtedly, it is hard to deny that the Premier was ' justified in refusing to pledge himself to find highly remunerative employment for all who might happen to require it within a step or two of their doors, and which it should subject them to no inconvenience whatever to take up. and, if

lie pointed oat that tbe only reasonable hope he could give them of his inclining towards their demands " was ' that necessary work would be provided at such itttges as the Government could afford to pay, and in such a' situation as to Ibe of lasting use, he must also be held in some degree excusable. That the unemployed men of the Colony, on the.pshtr hand, should look to the Government for assistance in, their need is not without a rational explanation, .and it majrqyen be urged that they have a particular right to do. so. -Had it not been for the faults and shortcomings of the Government— of many Governments, in fact-— and among them, that over which Sir Harry Atkinson long presided, so that it became known by the epithet "continuous," the Colony wo.uldmot now be in the condition in which we see it, and instead of crowds of idle men, not knowing where to turn for a week's earning to support their households, we should have a prosperous population' rooted in the soil, a brisk immigration? and ' labour at a premium. It is objected that if the working-men are" aided in their necessity by the Government, they will form a frame of mind inducing them ' always to depend upon Government, and harmful to their manliness and independence. But » the working-man, who, having before his eyes the results of a long course of government in New Zealand, and wh6 ebuld form any such reliance, must indeed be simple and incapable of drawing just conclusions. New Zealand has never teen governed with a view to the welfare of the working-man. The classes that are completely opposed to his interests have always been in the ascendency|in the Colony, arid have always made their influence felt both in the Legislature andt the Cabinet. Should the working-man make up his mind to' rely on them in the hour of his necessity, he would, indeed, place his reliance on a broken reed. Of one thing the Workingman may be convinced, and that is, that a Government which at ordinary times takes no thought for the promotion of his welfare and interests, will do nothing, in the hour of need, that it can possibly avoid to relieve his necessities. Here, also, however, there is a good deal to be said on both sides. It is natural to mankind to be selfish and desirous of monopoly and personal aggrandizement, and if the ascendant classes are given the opportunity of retaining the advantages which they possess, they must be expected to | avail themselves of it. If, on the other hand, the working- . man is apathetic and stupid, he must bear the natural consequences of his condition, and there is nobody bat himself to blame for it. What the Government is and has been, as and has been the result of his own folly or perverseness. He has never exerted himself to find independent, disinterested men, and to return them to Parliament. But any appeal made to his prejudices, any excitement made of his bigotry, has been sufficient to mislead him, and to make him the tool of those whose desire and interest it was to suck his blood. The Government is what he has made it, and what he will have it to be it will still continue. If, therefore, he finds himself in straits, and in his straits thinks it hard that the Government will not do impossibilities to assist him as he desires, it can be no harm to remind him that he himself is alone accountable for both straits and impossibilities. There it much to be said on both sides, but, on the whole, there is more to be said for the Government which, to his detriment, he has placed in power, than there is for him who" suffers from his own fault. It would be well if a sharp lesson could rouse the work-ing-man to' a different course of action, but the probabilities are that he will still remain in his time-honoured groove.