A Compositor's Narrative.

The following letter appeared next day in the Herald, under the signature of « One of those who signed the contract »:—

Having been one of the compositors who entered into the contract with Mr Ivess to « farm » the Timaru Herald when he took over that paper, I beg to be allowed to point out to the electors several « trifling » mis-statements made by him in his address last evening. Up to the time Mr Ivess took over the paper we were paid the price recognized by the trade throughout the colony, viz., 1s per thousand letters. When it became known amongst us that Mr Ivess had taken a lease of the paper quite a consternation was created in our little flock, and most of the compositors tried hard to Ret employment elsewhere, well knowing Mr Ivess's liking for cheap labor. Only one man succeeded in getting employment elsewhere. A few days before he took possession he came and informed as of the change in the proprietary, and notified us that he would be compelled to dismiss some of us and put on boy labor, he not forgetting to tell us that he had men ready to take our places if we opposed the introduction of this cheap labor. We held a meeting, at which it was decided to make a proposition to Mr Ivess. Recognizing the fact that the paper was losing from £700 to £1000 per annum, we offered to prepare the paper and hand it over to the machinist for the sun of £25 per week, or an average of £3 per week for each man, we allowing our foreman £4. This was a very great reduction—to some of the fast hands as much as £1 and over per week. Mr Ivess agreed to our proposal and an agreement for six months was drawn out and signed by eight of us, the amount of work to be done being stated. By accepting this reduction we thought to prevent boys being introduced, but we were no sooner bound by contract than he commenced to fill the place with boys. Our contract was just what he wanted. He had us by the « wool » and could train up his boys to take our places by the end of the term if needed,—a state of things we wanted to prevent. We were « euchered. » We faithfully fulfilled our contract. We gave him work that would have cost him nearly double if paid for at the ruling rate. We worked from sixty hours upwards, the most of that being by night—and we got £3 per week. At the end of our contract we were put on piece-work, that is, each man was paid according to the amount of work done. This was too expensive for him, so he « rose » the wage from £4 to £2 10s. When Mr Ivess offered us £2 10s per week he did not state what hours we were to work. We were to work till the paper was set up. If the men worked « 6½ hours per night, » that meant from two to three hours' work during the day, which would bring the total up to about nine hours per day. There is no other morning paper in the colony where such a low wage is paid, and I doubt if in the whole of the Australasian colonies. In Invercargill, Dunedin, Oamaru, Christchurch, Wellington, Napier, Wanganui, and Auckland the price is 1s per thousand. Even in Tasmania, where labor is exceedingly cheap, the price is not so low, while in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide the price is over 1s per thousand. It is ridiculous to compare the wage paid for day-labor with that of night-work, but Mr Ivess quoted the former to show what was a fair rate. Everybody must admit that night-work—which is most injurious to health, and which sends many a man to his long home years before his time, and a trade the members of which are the shortest-lived of any trade or profession—should command a better wage than day-labor. The recognized wage for day-labor in this town is £2 10s per week, which is little enough to keep a family on when rents are so high. Mr Ivess says no man has done more for printing than he has. It is the general opinion of our trade that, with one exception, no man has done so much injury to our trade. Although Mr Ivess has started a number of papers in various parts of the colony, I do not know one of which he may feel proud. They are all very inferior papers, and he generally employs the cheapest labor—men who have half learnt their trade, and who could not hold their own among good men. Mr Ivess says the reduction was « cheerfully accepted, and the best proof of that was that five out of the eight were still there. » Can any man who has received a reduction of wage from £4 to £2 10s say he feels cheerful? I know I felt very merry, and judging from the expression on the faces of my fellow-unfortunates, they felt as « cheerful » as I. Out of the eight men who « farmed » the Timaru Herald there were some time ago only four left on the paper, three of whom receive £2 10s per week, the other being foreman. One of the three is a man with a large family, and who had to submit to the inevitable, much against his will. While Mr Ivess ran the paper, I never before worked in a companionship where so much discontent existed among those employed…Mr Ivess admits reducing the wages of his men. As he referred to me in his address, I take this opportunity of laying the facts before your readers.