New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-14
RADICAL NEW-ZEALAND.
POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS TRIED IN THE
AUSTRALIAN COLONY.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE A rArLuRE-ApvANcED DE.
MANDs OF LABoR-THE oLDAGE PEN
SION SCHEME ADOPTED.

WOMAN SUFFRAGE A FA1LURE-ADvANcED DE-
MANps OF LABoR-THE oLD-AGE PEN
SION SCHEME ADOPTED
wellington. New-Zealand. February 2.
Though so remote part OF the world. few coun-
cries have made such rapid strides as New-lealand
mas in the way OF social and political reform IL is
Nttle moro than half century old. but within that
comparatively short space OF time turbulent race
Of natives has been brought under suojection' ana
Che forty thousand that remain OF 1t are now living
an terms OF the most friendly intercourse with the
eoonists large cities have been built. settlements
pushed forward In all directions; representative
government established. railroads constructed far
and wide and such material progress mace tnat
its import and export trade each represents ts"o-
eoc or 100000 worth Of value annually The ordi'
nary revenue from taxation and other ways comes
20 something like IS 600 and Parliament disposes
OF over 100000 in annual appropriations Al
though the entire population reaches scarcely esh'
hundred thousand-less than that or many Amerl-
can ces-there is national debt Of f43 900. and
,he governmental machinery would doubtless Strike
IN American as being out of all proportion 70 the
number Of people to be governed. But New-zealand
s naturally such resourceful country that IL does
rot feel any strain from what is apparently very
costly system Of government. and. generally speak
ing. its inhabitants are comfortable and compare
lively well Off
What her public men have set their minds to
most is the prevention of social conditions which
prevail In the motherland. TO the detriment OF the
humber classes. Legislation OF late years mas
taken the direction Of placing everybody upon a
politicsI equality. The first nall In the CONN or
what were termed the privileged classes was driven
nv the late Sir George Grey when he succeeded In
getting Parliament 10 pass an act conferring the
electoral franchise upon every male adult on the
one-man- one-vote principle. This was followed
half dozen years ago by the admission or every
woman TO equal rights the result being that IN
the election OF members OF Parliament every man
and In the land can record ono vote IN
single celebrates three votes In cities WHICH
return that number Of members to the representa-
tive Chamber called the House Of Representatives.
VAIN ARGUMENTS FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
One Of the strongest arguments advanced In sup
port Of franchise in this country was That IL
would result in the return Of members of high char
.acter and reputation. and that woman's influence
would be such as TO impart a higher tone 10 the
proceedings and actions Of the Legislature Well
two general elections. at intervals Of three years
have taken place since women were admitted to
the polling booths and the result has been entirely
disappointing The class OF members has not been
improved the tone of Parliament has. If anything.
deteriorated and the New-Zealand political
woman" has failed TO exercise any beneficial in
lhuence either upon the community at large or
upon her She is an extremely hysterical
creature; her sole object in life appears to be TO
procure n Government billet for her husband. son
or daughter. For that purpose she joins womans
league and procsims the virtues OF the party In
ipcwer She gets the reward she seeks and in this
way the door is opened to system OF corruption
that is now beginning TO create considerable alarm
in this out-of- the.way offshoot OF the British En-
pire The political woman has even become so I'M
reasonable TO demand that she should be eligible
for Parliamentary membership, a sentiment which
Is reciprocated b. only very small minority OF
New-Zealand's wCmankind. In fact. nine-tenths OF
the fenale population never wanted the franchise
at all II conferred upon them without the
question being fret reegaed TO the electors, and II
IS only out Of selfdefence that our best class
of 60 to the booths TO record their votes for
against particular candidates. Bringing women
so prominently into the political arena has had
more OF a demon lizing tendency than anything
else II has caused end of family dssenslons;
and to such Of the States contemplate the adop
ton OF the system / feel cannot do better than
give them "Punch's" advice to people about to
marry-"dont"
For the variety and extent OF its experiment tai
legislation. New-Xealand is not TO be equaled by
any country under the SUM- Her public men have
taken upon their shoulders the stupendous task of
showing the whole world how to do things in
multiplicity of directions the proverbia plan OF
teaching their grandmothers how 10 suck eggs In
their efforts to adjust the relationship between
capital and labor for example, they have succeeded
in setting class against class. and in destroying
the good feelings that ought to subsst between
employer and employed. America is. of course, in
must not look to New-Zealand for any good or
practical solution Of the difficulty Afc- the mari
time strike which took place through" australia
IN 1870 the existence of the one-ma n-oio vote sys
tenn enabled the labor organizations to
good many members to Parliament Their votes
being essential the maintenance of the
party in power these labor members compelled the
Government to legisate upon labor questions.
EXTRAvAGANT LABOR DEMANDS.
Since that time. however. their demands have be-
come extravagant and at this moment the rela-
tons Of employers and employed strained to
the utmost tension Not content with working for
forty-eight hours week, some trades are de-
manding reduction to forty-four: they are insist
ing also that the number of apprentices shall be in
ridiculously small proportion TO the number Of
adults employed in workshops and that members
of tradesunions shall In all have the pref
OF employment -unionsts. In
word. these unions seeking to dictate to
poyers how they shall conduct their business. and.
the liberty of employers being thus invaded. they
have naturally become irate. and threats are being
made of closing down their establishments An
act placed on the statute-book four years ago
with the ostensible object Of preventing strikes
IL established courts of arbitration and boards Of
Cancellation for the purpose of settling trade dis
putes; but these tribunals have become sources of
annoyance and oppression TO employers. because
they summoned before them when there is
their men This IS accomplished by labor agita:
tors who, being members OF these boards and paid
at so much sitting. have direct interest in
fomenting labor disputes But their proceedings
are being carried TO such pitch that capital Is
getting its back up and limiting at such measures
of retaliation will throw numbers Of people out
OF employment. No reasonable could blame
employers II they adopted this course so harassed
are they in the conduct of their business by trades
unionism. which just seems 10 be able TO
manipulate the political wires IL peases. There
is a general election. however. at the end of tho
present year and II is believed that trades-union-
Ism will then receive such wei: merted check as
Will destroy It's influence as factor IN politics.
arrogance become tntOlerable.
In America, in other countries the Que s.
tion OF how best deal with its aged and needy
poor has engaged the attention of journalists and
statesmen No scheme which has yet been promul-
gated In this or any other colony of Australasia
has been found to work satisfactorily, but New
Zealand is just busy engaged in the initiation
OF pan which II is hoped will solve the difficulty