The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-11-21
LABOR CONDITIONS
GOOD IN new ZEALAND
TUAL EXPERIENCE: CONDITIONS
IN THAT COUNTRY.
Not Enough Skilled Labor i'm the Is
lands to DO the Necessary Work.
Wages Paid are Good, and Condi-
tiOns of Labor are FIattering.

Chicago, Nov. 19.--"After six
years absence from my native coun-
try, New Zealand, I returned there last
year for nine months stay. I ex-
pected to see the. industrial situation
in bad way, accrediting the reports
Of the colony's depression which I had
read both in the States and in Eng
land. But, on the contrary, both mo-
ney and employment seemed plentiful.
did not Investigate the Govern
ment's financing andss the meaning Of
its huge dept. :Buts5the. taxes levied
in consequences thereof d@not seem to
BE- a. hixhsproportto tonatel as Sd the
5WaKeA@ PAL
Il.Iszsr
H. 49,. ll. &c., l * ~
81 psrifs shsAasell
called wor ng 81 81
fplness 81 empl yment ofss aI Kinds,
II d Of the high: :wag ges.s@ i heard of
much ogod work literally going beg
ging, and: on all hands, in variety of
different ways, my attention, was CALL
ed to the scarcity-I think might al
most say say the extreme scarcity
Of labor. Most, not all, of my in
porters.
Laborers Scarce. -..
I jot down, as they occur to me- a
few instances, for all Of which I can
personally vouch. One of the wealth.
lest flax millers in the North island
complained to me that his garden
fence had been unpainted for months;
he was willing to pay good wages (at
least $3.50 day, and probably 50, or
more) to have it done, and yet could
get no one to do it. Whenever he
wanted an odd job done it was the
same trouble. I heard exactly similar
complaints from many others in quite
different parts.
In the small town where lived the
milkmen recently sent round to all
their costumers to say that the scare
ity of labor was such that they did
not see how they could manage to
deliver more than once a day. In the
same town a large jam manufacturer
did not know where to get labor, even
girl labor. Where the girls went to
no one knew; certainly not as serv-
ants, for the domestic servant problem,
acute here, is Immensely more acute
there.
Good Pay for Workers.
.Unskilled laborers were generally
getting $3.50 "a day in; wellington,
where, however, wages are higher
than in some parts. Laborers, such as
flax millers' hands and skilled work
ers, were getting S3.75: and IS. a day.
The harvest before the last one out
there~-I heard of almost :: incredible
wages >he;ng paid for harvesters in
the North Island, ups:to So a day in
some cases. The total cost of living
may be slightly. higher for artisans
there than here, but this I doubt; for
the professional classes I consider it.,
on the whole, much: the same, now.
The only people. + heard Of as ask
ing unsuccessfully for work were OBJ
vious tramps, who preferred to beg
rather: than to earn a meal and some
money by: half a. days work. Let it
be clearly : understood that r am
speaking OF New Zealand only, and of
artisan and not Of clerical. labor. of
any kind At present it seems to me
there is: too much work lin. New Zea-
Ian; they are too prosperous, and a
little more :struggling for life would
in some ways be salutary. As: for
emigrants; Idtd not hear anything of
it. New. Zealand is: pre- e-eminently a
much 500. That the workingman and
his interests pred ominate must strike
any observer ~ =S .z s: IN =