Chapter II. the Present.

Having thus glanced at the various causes which have resulted in the state of affairs now existing, I would direct attention to the present condition of the colony in its social and political respects.

The position politically is, on the whole, highly favourable. There can scarcely be a doubt as to the power possessed by the great body of the people. The franchise being practically universal, and the industrial classes forming a considerable majority of the whole population, they can, by organisation for a common and definite purpose, direct and control both the making of the laws and their administration.

The social position, however, of the people is not by any means so satisfactory. Although not perfectly just and equal in political rights, there is at least in that direction an approach to justice and equality; while in social and economic matters we behold amongst ourselves those glaring inconsistencies and dangerous contrasts which have been the reproach and the terror of all civilisations.

Although less than half a century in age; although we have run through and dissipated a magnificent estate; although for different page 10 purposes, local and general, we have borrowed and expended nearly forty millions of money; although we have raised from ourselves and expended perhaps another forty millions—yet it is safe to affirm that three fourths of the total European population of New Zealand are to-day no richer, no better off than they were when they landed in the colony. Of the remaining fourth the majority have perchance amassed a small competency,—while the minority of that fourth are possessed of groat wealth, in some instances of gigantic fortunes.

It would be invidious to mention names, but there is no resident in any of the large centres of population in New Zealand who cannot at a moment's notice point out many instances to illustrate this assertion in his own district. And these great fortunes have in no single instance been amassed by the unaided efforts of the individual himself, or received by him as the reward of his own labour. How are the majority of fortunes acquired?

Is it by the personal labour, mental or bodily, of the merchants, the land speculators, the manufacturers, the contractors, the shipowners, or the investors of money that these fortunes are acquired? Not at all. It is by the incessant toil of others, by the growth of communities and of commerce, by the increase of wealth in the community.

It is strange that this subject is not more clearly understood by political economists or social writers. For the cause which results in the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the few is, as we shall hereafter see, not far to find. Here, however, I propose to deal with this portion of the subject merely as an existing fact.

The next proposition which attracts the attention in our observance of the facts of everyday life is that, in addition to the wide and widening separation between wealth and poverty, we are compelled to admit that labour and capital are antagonistic. They live in different camps; they display different sympathies. And the contentions between them in these colonies are as fierce, and bitter, and prolonged as in great Britain. Take for example the bootmakers' strike in Melbourne, which threatened to involve the whole of the employers of labour throughout Victoria and New South Wales in a gigantic struggle. This strike cost the Unions alone £8900. Look next at the strike now being carried on between the Seamen's Union of Australasia and the Pacific Mail Company, the end of which is not yet seen. Then regard the strike of the colliers at Westport against reduced wages, and the bootmakers' strike in Christchurch not yet ended. And, to shew the extreme improbability of any final settlement between labour and capital under existing social conditions, let any unprejudiced mind, look at the action of the Auckland Mercantile Marine Association in its dictatorial letter to the Lumpers' Union, and the firm and resolute reply of that Union to the demands made upon them.

No adjustment of differences, no courts of conciliation, no references to arbitration, will or can, under the social economy which has hitherto obtained, reconcile the conflicting interests of capital and labour.

Again, if we regard the present position in point of locality of the waste lands of the Crown, we shall at once see that the possibilities of individual settlement upon those lands is for ever gone. There was a time when round every infant settlement, round every harbour, and in places where fertile land was easily accessible, individual settlement was possible and advantageous.

That day has passed, and passed forever, in New Zealand. Laws, so framed as to enable their makers to obtain these lands for themselves and the great families which they desired to found, disgrace the statute books both of the provinces and of the colony. For not only were the Crown lands filched from the public by these means, but many of the best lands of the natives also were, by arbitrary and unjust legislation, obtained by the legislators for themselves and their friends. Where now shall a person desiring to find a home direct his way? The Native Minister is indeed attempting to set apart spots suitable for the location of small groups of families. Even this can only be done with great difficulty. Wherever land is fit for settlement, within easy distance of a market or of a point from which a market can be reached, that land is the property of private individuals. Intending settlers therefore must now be prepared to endure the evils and privations of an isolated and almost savage life, or submit to the exactions of a private land-owner.

Returning for a moment to the political world we see that there are no principles dividing parties, and no defined objects of policy upon which any actual or supposed coalition is prepared to stand or fall. For many years, while principles indeed been sternly and bitterly fought for by that section or party which has followed Sir George Grey, the end and aim of politicians generally has been to advance the material interests of the country by spending great treasures upon railroads and other public works, by introducing multitudes of labourers into the colony, and by disposing of the best public lands of the colony for the purpose of so-called settlement. Material prosperity, brought about in this fashion, under those social laws which, as we have before seen, now govern us, has but sent us whirling more and more rapidly upon the road which older nations have so slowly travelled. For he must be blind who cannot see in every part of the colony increasing likeness to those European civilisations which are admittedly upon the verge of revolution.

The equipages, the mansions, the liveries, the airs of superiority, with which our wealthy classes now surround themselves, are in striking and mournful contrast with the appearance and everyday life of the workers of the community.

And ever and anon the tones of suffering, the tales of want and wretchedness which are uttered through the columns of the daily press show that we are but slightly removed from the pitiable condition of the United Kingdom.

It is an error to think that this so-called material prosperity will permanently benefit a whole people. Each succeeding wave does, indeed, land the favoured few higher and higher upon the shore of prosperity—but the same wave receding drags down the multitudes to a lower level than they before occupied.

Mr Gladstone, forty years age, gave utterance to the following words:—"It is one of the sad sides of the present social order in our land that the steady increase of wealth of the upper classes and the accumulation of capital should be attended with a diminution in the people's power of consumption, and with a larger amount of privation and suffering among the poor."

When twenty years had passed, the same great statesman, speaking in the same House (the House of Commons) said:—"From the year 1842 to 1853, the receipts from the Income Tax increased 6 per cent, in England; and from 1853 to 1861, 20 per cent. It is an astonishing fact, but it is nevertheless true, that this prodigious increase of wealth benefited solely the well-to-do classes."

Nearly ten years afterwards, in 1872, the late Henry Fawcett and his wife, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, in their "Essays and Lectures on Social and Political Subjects," speak thus: "Production has increased beyond the most sanguine hopes, and yet the day when the workman shall obtain a large share of this increase seems as far distant as ever, and in his miserable abode the struggle against want and misery is as hard as it ever was. The result of this is to create a feeling of profound hostility to the fundamental principles on which society is based."

It would be useless to multiply quotations of this sort. Looking generally at the social state of New Zealand we see nearly everywhere business languishing, trade dull, employment scarce, money still scarcer, and an increasing fear of financial disaster.

The wheat growing of Canterbury has been ruined by the cheap labour of India; farmers throughout the colony, unaccustomed to travel outside the routine of other and less-favoured lands, murmuring and discontented. Skilled labour clamouring for protection to native industry. Owners of property, gloomily contemplating the possibility of further depression, labor and capital bracing up their loins for further conflicts. Mortgagors failing to meet the payment of interest to foreign creditors. Every section of the community harrassed with anxiety for its own particular interest. All in dread of increased taxation. And amid all the fears, and hopes, and anxieties, the industrial classes, forming the bulk in numbers of the people, are quietly allowing the whole created wealth of the country to pass into the possession of a small section—the owners of land and capital. All over the country public meetings are held, page 13 and thousands of the people meet. Sir Julius Vogel, Mr Stout, Mr Ballance, and Mr Larnach stump the country and utter speeches by the hour, and save administration—containing what? Major Atkinson and other opponents follow Ministers with tiresome minuteness. Supporters of the party in power rise in their constituencies, and opponents in theirs. All speak—all are cheered—all receive votes of confidence. The long accounts day after day become nauseous. Who remembers or cares to remember the dreary utterances, or vicious criticisms, "all sound and fury—signifying nothing." Once now and then, as in the addresses of Sir George Grey, occurs a great idea, the shadowing out of some noble thought, some effort of the past, some hope for the future, some utterances of philosophic statesmanship and patriotism; but we may say, as the disciples said of old to Christ, when pointing to the few loaves and fewer fishes, "What are they among so many?" Nothing short of a miracle can make them sufficient to afford mental food for the multitude. Meanwhile the daily press, which prides itself not only upon its power, which is undeniable, but upon its wisdom, which is at least doubtful—goes spinning on its course either ignorant or unmindful of the gravity of its self-imposed duties to the people it teaches. The motto of the Auckland Evening Star expresses more completely than any other the claims and pretensions of an independent newspaper press:—

"For the cause that lacks assistance,
For the wrong that needs resistance,
For the future in the distance,
And the good that we can do."

No more noble motto was ever written. To perform these duties, to maintain these principles men have fought and died in every land and in every age. For this martyrs have suffered on the rack and endured the flames. For this patriots have bared their breasts to the sword of tyranny. For this women have visited the hospital and prison, and followed the steps of armies to distant lands. For this missionaries have gone forth into the wilderness and dwelt among savage tribes. For this Christians faced the lions in the Colliseum, and Havelock and Gordon, in India and in Egypt, fought and fell. For this Peter the Hermit roused the nations of Western Europe to the crusades, Arnold of Winkelried drew a sheaf of spears into his heart, and Howard "guaged the dimensions of human misery." For this, in the plentitude of mercy, Jesus of Nazareth endured the cross, despising the shame.

The one subject for consideration now is how to distribute that wealth fairly amongst all which is created by all. Hitherto, thanks to the ease with which land could be obtained, and to our small population, employment has been plentiful and labour scarce. The day has now come when the scenes enacted in Britain are about to be enacted here. How shall we prevent this? How shall we direct our course while yet we sail upon the open sea, so that we may not fall upon the rocks and end our short voyage in disaster and in page 14 wreck? How shall we turn the current of social life so that in New Zealand we shall found a community so truly thriving and prosperous that every class and every family in the land shall participate in the general wealth? This is the question. The solution of this problem is all important; upon that solution depend the happiness and comfort of many generations. We possess many and great privileges. Civil and religious liberty are ours. Political and religious equality we have. One great principle has, however, yet to be obtained, and that is social freedom and equality. He is not socially free who is compelled to sell his labour to another. He is not socially equal who does not receive as his right that portion of the social wealth which his labour creates. So long, therefore, as the industrial classes go on producing wealth in this country, and yet receive nothing beyond their wages, while all the surplus goes into the hands of the owners of land and money, so long will they suffer a cruel and degrading tyranny. Of what importance, in comparison with this, are the petty questions which engage the attention of the public and the press, or the base struggles for place and power which often disgrace and demoralise our parliament?

It may indeed be said that the press of this colony is no worse in this respect than that of other places, for this subject, indisputably the most momentous to all civilised communities, attracts but little attention, and that not always of the highest order of intelligence.

There is, however, another and a more immediate danger, which menaces all of us.

In our history, as in the history of all new countries, the tide of progress ebbs and flows continually. Any person who knows the past of this colony, will easily recall those periods of severe depression which have on several occasions swept like a wave over the country. When the tide has fallen very low and our skies become dark, and some even thoughtful men have grown despondent—suddenly the dawn broke, the tide turned, and New Zealand once more hoisted all sail and swept along, soon forgetting her past fears. The discoveries of gold effected on two occasions deliverance—the rise in wool—the military expenditure, each for a time relieved us, while the borrowed millions produced the last and greatest, as well as the most enduring, of our fortunate re-actions. The tide is again ebbing; what fortunate chance, what well-planned scheme, what effort of statesmanship, or lucky throw of the dice, is this time to retrieve our fortunes? The country is crying out for people and money to develope its wonderful resources, and to increase its production and wealth. From whence are they to come? Upon the page 15 east coast of the North Island, and in the so-called King country, as well as in many parts of the South Island, millions of people could not only find subsistence, but create a great national prosperity. In those vast districts great sums of English money could be advantageously invested—money which would not only repay itself, but bring to the Government and to all who were able to benefit by its use a prosperity such as this colony has never yet seen. And this could be easily accomplished. If once done, and done under the conditions I shall explain before I close, then New Zealand would fear no relapse for many years—for the same wave which would fill the North with prosperity, would flow South also, to fertilise and bless all portions of these fair islands.