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Price One Penny.
THE
Australian Labour Market.
STARTLING DISCLOSURES.
By JOHN
NEW
SOUTH
WALES
NORTON,
LABOUR
DELEGATE.
Distress and Destitution in New
South Wales.
Pauper Relief Works & Soup Kitchens.
BOGUS “EMIGRANTS’
INFORMATION OFFICE.”
LONDON: THE MODERN PRESS, 13, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C
1886
�All who are interested. in Socialism
should, read.
THE FOLLOWING PUBLICATIONS , OF
THE MODERN PRESS, 13, Paternoster Row, London, E.C.
Which will be sent post free at the published prices on receipt of
an order amounting to one shilling or more.
(The Publications of the Modern Press can be obtained from W. L.
Rosenberg, 261, East Tenth Street, New York City.)
Woman, in the Past, Present and Future.
By
August ' Bebel, Deputy in the Reichstag. Translated from the
German by H. B. Adams Walther. Demy 8-vo., cloth, price 5s.
This work by the best known of the German Socialists aims at showing that the
social condition of women can be permanently improved only by the solution of the
whole social problem,
The Co-operative Commonwealth: an Exposition
of Modern Socialism. By Laurence Gronlund, of Philadelphia.
Demy 8-vo., paper cover, is.
This book supplies the want, frequently complained of, of definite proposals for the
administration of a Socialistic State. Mr. Gronlund has reconciled the teaching of
Marx with the influence of Carlyle in the constructive part of his work, which is
specially recommended to English Socialists.
Socialism made Plain.
The social and political
manifesto of the Social-Democratic Federation issued in June 1883 ;
with “The Unemployed,” a Manifesto issued after the “ Riots in
the West End” on 8th February, 1886. Sixty-first thousand.
Crown 8-vo., paper cover, price id.
“JUSTICE,” the Organ of the Social Democracy. Every
Saturday, one penny.
Socialist Rhymes
from Justice.
By J. L. Joynes.
Reprinted chiefly
Demy 8-vo., price id.
Summary of the Principles of Socialism.
By
H. M. Hyndman and William Morris. Second edition, 64-pp.
crown 8-vo., in wrapper designed by Wm. Morris, price 4d.
This gives an account of the growth of capitalist production, and concludes with a
statement of the demands of English Socialists for the immediate future.
Herbert Spencer on Socialism. By Frank Fairman.
16-pp. crown 8-vo., price id.
The Working Man’s Programme (Arbeiter Programm). By Ferdinand Lassalle. Translated from the German
by Edward Peters. Crown 8-vo., paper cover, price 6d.
The Robbery of the Poor.
By W. H. P. Campbell.
Demy 8-vo., paper cover, price 6d.
The Appeal to the Young.
By Prince Peter
Kropotkin. Translated from the French by H. M. Hyndman and
reprinted from Justice. Royal 8-vo., 16-pp. Price one penny.
The most eloquent and noble appeal to the generous emotions ever penned by a
scientific man. Its author has just suffered five years’ imprisonment at the hands of the
French Republic for advocating the cause of the workers
�I
PREFACE.
VER since November 1883, when the facts of the destitution in
E London and other large towns in the United Kingdom began to
assert themselves in a way which compelled attention, Emigration has
been put forward as a satisfactory remedy by the ruling classes and
philanthropists, as well as by persons pecuniarily interested in the trans
portation of workmen to the Colonies. Some of the advocates of
State-assisted Emigration have been shown to be emigration agents in
disguise who receive a commission of so much a head for each person
they induce to leave these shores. Others are well-known to be in the pay
of land syndicates or railway companies possessed of thousands of acres
which are utterly valueless until labour has been planted on them.
The Social-Democratic Federation has never ceased to denounce the
misrepresentation and imposture which has led too many of our fellows
to cross the ocean only to find that in newer countries the capitalist
system of society condemns the worker to the same horrors as it pro
duces at home.
When the Government Emigrants’ Information Office was first
talked of, the Social-Democratic Federation again pointed out that it
could be of little advantage to the workers inasmuch as it would be
controlled and supplied with information both here and in the Colonies
by representatives of the classes who in England are interested in
relieving social pressure by exiling the poor, and who in our dependencies
favour immigration as an effective means .of overstocking the labour
market and reducing wages.
Every point of these contentions is amply proved in the following
pages which I have persuaded Mr. John Norton to allow me to publish.
He is not a Social-Democrat nor particularly interested as I am in the
welfare of the unemployed in Great Britain. But as the accredited
delegate of the labour population of New South Wales he is bound to
defend their interests which, as is amply proved by Mr. Norton’s state
ments, are threatened by the reckless misrepresentations of the Emigration
Office. I venture to suggest that members of workmen’s clubs and
political associations all over the country would do well to send resolu
tions to the Government demanding that public money should not be
expended in attempts to draw off public attention from the Social
Question at home by transporting the victims to our Colonies and
in supplying cheap labour to make the fortunes of employers at the
Antipodes.
H. H. Champion.
Secretaries of Workmen’s Clubs or Labour Organisations who would
like to hear an address by Mr. Norton on “ Australia as a Field for
Emigration” should communicate with him at 166, Westminster Bridge
Road, London.
�THE AUSTRALIAN LABOUR MARKET.
R. JOHN NORTON, the New South Wales Labour Dele
gate, now on a mission to this country in connection with the
industrial crisis at present existing in that Colony, having, in
a letter to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, denounced
the information circulated by the new Government Emigrants’ Informa
tion Office as “ glaringly inaccurate, and entirely misleading,” received
the following letter from that Department:—
“ Emigrants’ Information Office,
31, Broadway, Westminster, S.W.
“ John Norton, Esq.,
16th October, 1886.
“ Sir,—The Managing Committee of this Office have noticed a letter
signed by you, and printed in the Daily News, to the effect that the in
formation which they have issued about the labour market of New
South Wales is ‘ glaringly inaccurate, and entirely misleading.’
“ Their only object being to ascertain and make known to the public
the actual facts as to the prospects of labourers in the British Colonies,
they would be glad to learn the grounds of your criticism, and in what
respects the information in question is inaccurate and misleading.
“ If you care to call at their office, and will make an appointment, I
shall be glad to see you, and may add that any periodical reports issued
by trade societies in Australia would be acceptable.
“ Faithfully yours,
(Signed)
C. P. Lucas.”
To which Mr. Norton has replied as follows:—
“ 166, Westminster Bridge Road, S.E.,
October ¿.yrd, 1886.
“To the Managing Committee of the
Government Emigrants’ Information Office.
“ Gentlemen,—In reply to your communication ofthe 16th inst. I beg
leave to say that the grounds upon which I base the statement contained
in my letter to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, ‘ that the infor
mation recently issued by the Government. Emigrants’ Information
Office concerning the labour market of New South Wales is glaringly
maccurate, and entirely misleading,’ are the following :—
ssssssss•••
'.XVixWxW'
�5
(a) On page 8 of the penny Colonisation Circular of New South
Wales, sold by you, it is stated—‘ In New South Wales men accustomed
to agricultural or pastoral work can readily obtain employment in any
■ part of the country districts at remunerative wages.'
(b) On pages 9 and 10 of the same Circular you give a list of what
purports to be the average rate of wages earned in the majority of
skilled handicrafts in 1884 ; and on page 19 say, ‘ New South Wales,
as compared with other, and even with the neighbouring colonies, pos
sesses special advantages and attractions for the agricultural settler.’
(c) In the general broadsheet circular issued by you on the nth inst.,
and entitled, ‘ General Information for Intending Emigrants to Canada,
the Australasian, and South African Colonies,’ under the heading of
‘Present Demand for Labour,’ the following statement appears
‘ New
South Wales. There is some opening for persons connected with the
building trades, for railway and agricultural labourers.’
I consider the whole of these statements not only ‘ glaringly inaccu
rate, and entirely misleading,’ but positive misrepresentations of the real
state of the labour market in New South Wales at the present time,
which are all the more unwarrantable that they are made in the face of
the following most full and clear evidence to the contrary. ’
AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS.
The Sydney Globe newspaper of the 26th of July last states—* The
stagnation in business resulting from the deadlock in the Western dis
trict has at length attracted the attention of the Sydney Mercantile body.
Work on the stations and homesteads of the Saltbush has ceased ; the
contractors’ parties of tank sinkers and mechanics and waggoners have
been dispersed, and are wandering over the country penniless. Sheep
stations where 30 or 40 hands had been employed are now worked by
7 or 8 hands. The country towns feel the stoppage of circulation, and
in Sydney the pinch is felt in the return of bills unpaid instead of the
good remittances and fresh orders which came by every post while the
industry of the interior was maintained.’
On the 30th of the same month the Globe, in drawing attention to the
deplorable condition of the agricultural portion of the population of
New South Wales, and to the fact that they could not compete against
the wheat which was being landed in Sydney from Bombay at 4s. ¿d.
per bushel, observes: ‘ With his hundred acres, his hut, his children
dressed in flour-bags, his crop mortgaged before it is ripe, his utter
hopelessness of any fair or satisfactory progress, or of emancipation
from the debt which was bound around his neck on the day he settled
on the soil, is not the settler ground almost to death in the cruel mill of
competition ? ’
To that part of Statement No. 2, where you say that, ‘ New South
Wales, as compared with other, and even the neighbouring colonies,
possesses special advantages and attractions for the agricultural settler,’
I take exception ; and likewise to your remark that ‘ more than onethird of the population of New South Wales is resident in Sydney and
its suburbs, consequently, the remainder of the colony is comparatively
thinly populated.’ The first of these two statements is inaccurate, and
the second is misleading. New South Wales does not possess any
‘ special advantages and attractions for the agricultural settler ’ over
Victoria. Her bad land laws, together with the droughts and outside
r
�6
j
,
competition, combine to make it difficult for the small farmers and
settlers to live on the land, and to drive them into the towns. This is why
one-third of the whole population is, unfortunately, to be found in
Sydney and its suburbs. The area of New South Wales is 310,938
square miles, or 199,000,000 acres ; that of Victoria 87,884 square miles,
or 56,245,760 acres. Notwithstanding her vast area, New South Wales
has a somewhat smaller population than Victoria, and has only 852,017
acres under cultivation ; whereas Victoria, although nearly three-and-ahalf times smaller, has no less than 2,323,496 acres under cultivation,
i.e., 1,471,479 acres more than the mother colony, which has twice the
age of Victoria. In 1884 Victoria produced 10,967,088 more bushels of
wheat, oats, and barley than New South Wales. These few significant
figures do not, I think, indicate that New South Wales possesses, at
present, any ‘ special advantages and attractions for the agricultural
settler ’ over her Victorian neighbour, at least.
ARTISANS AND MECHANICS.
Since my arrival in this country I have received reports from nearly
every handicraft exercised in the Colony, which shows that almost every
branch of industry, and especially the building trade, is in a terribly
depressed state, as the following summary shows.
CARPENTERS and JOINERS.—Mr. Francis Willes, Secretary,
N.S.W. Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, in a letter
dated Sydney, June nth says: ‘the state of this trade is very dull, a
great number being out of work.’ A report from Mr. J. C. Simpson,
Secretary, Sydney Progressive Society of Carpenters and Joiners, dated
June 9th, states : ‘This society is of opinion that state-assisted immi
gration should cease ; and we would warn all mechanics from coming
to this colony, as trade is very bad and may remain so for some con
siderable time yet.’ These reports are more than confirmed by the
Sydney press, which shows that instead of improving, this trade has
become still worse. The Sydney Morning Herald of the 19th of August,
states: ‘ For some considerable time past the building trade has been
unusually slack, and, in consequence, many carpenters and joiners have
been thrown out of employment, so much so that about a fortnight ago
it was deemed necessary to call a meeting of the unemployed carpenters
and joiners to consider what was to be done. At the meeting a
committee was appointed to wait upon the Hon. the Minister for Works
to ascertain if any Government works could be commenced to absorb
the unemployed labour. After considerable agitation and many inter
views it was announced that employment would be found for fifty
carpenters and joiners under the Railway Department, but upwards of
300 have given in their names as out of work and needing employment.
The fifty men required were drafted out on Monday, but the list of
names requiring work had considerably increased, and on Tuesday after
noon it was decided to hold another meeting at the usual place, the
statue at the top of King Street. At the time of meeting between 300
and 400 persons had assembled. Mr. Thomas Symons, Secretary of
the Trades and Labour Council addressed the meeting. It was decided
to appoint a Committee to again interview the Minister for Works, to
endeavour to urge upon him the necessity of opening up other public
works, so that work can be obtained by the unemployed carpenters and
joiners. It was stated that many of the unemployed had been from two
�7
to four months out of work, and consequently, much distress prevailed
amongst them.’ The Sydney Globe, of the 21st of August states, ‘ Mr.
O’Sullivan, M.L.A., to-day introduced a deputation of unemployed
Carpenters to the Minister for Works, requesting him to give them work.
Mr. Thomas Symons, having stated the case of the men, showing that
there were still, nearly 400 carpenters out of work and in distress ; Mr.
Lyne, the Minister for Works, said that he had already strained his
department, to find work for fifty of their number, and he could not find
work for more till some of the railway lines were adopted. They would
then get work on the permanent way and bridges. Till then he would
endeavour to get them employment at roadmaking.’
STONEMASONS.—Numbers of the hands in this trade are out of
work, which is largely owing to the extensive importation of dressed
stone from Victoria and elsewhere ; in consequence of which the Sydney
Globe, of the 24th August last, states: ‘ that the Government has pro
mised to use native stone wherever possible, and to place a duty on the
imported stone.’
BRICKMAKERS.—Messrs. A. Boot, President, and J. Cook, Secre
tary, of the N.S.W. Brickmakers, Brickmakers’ Labourers, and Pipe
makers’ Union, state: ‘so far as the Labour market in our trade is
concerned, we are sorry to say that it is now very much overstocked,
hundreds of our men are now walking about the streets of Sydney.’
Most of the brickyards in the Colony work eight hours per day, but the
larger yards having refused to recognise the eight hours’ principle, the
brickmakers there have gone on strike, their action being supported by
all the other trades. It is hoped by the reduction of the hours of labour
of those employed, the over production will cease, and work will be
provided for the unemployed brickmakers. Large quantities of bricks
are being offered at £■$ per thousand.
Thus it will be seen that your statements that ‘ there are some
openings in the building trades and for railway and agricultural
labourers ’ is glaringly inaccurate. A precisely similar state of things
exists inmost of the other leading trades included in your list of average
wages, as a cursory glance at their condition will suffice to prove.
IRON TRADE.—A Special Committee of the New South Wales
Engineering Association appointed to inquire into the state of the iron
trade in the colony reported on the 30th of June last to the effect that
the trade throughout all its branches was in a thoroughly depressed
state ; and ‘ that there. was not a single factory which employed more
than one tenth of the workmen which the establishment was capable of
accommodating, to say nothing of the vast amount of expensive plant
lying idle, whilst a large number of firms had had to stop their engines,
there not being work enough to keep even the apprentices employed.’
In a report dated Lithgow, N.S.W., July 24th, Mr. H. S. Jones, Secre
tary of the Eskbank Ironworkers, reports that the puddlers, heaters,
shinglers, rollers and other hands at the Eskbank Works are only
working half-time, and that a large blast furnace, which was at work
four years ago, has since had to be blown out and pulled down for want of
work. There were formerly eight puddling furnaces at work here, but,
owing to the collapse of the iron trade, some of them have been pulled
down and the plates broken up. Mr. Jones concludes his report as
follows ;—‘ To any ironworkers who are thinking of coming out to this
■colony in the hope of obtaining employment in their trade, we would
�8
say be warned, be careful, we cannot hold out any hope of work whatso
ever.’
Another report from the New South Wales Friendly Society of
Ironmoulders, and signed by A. Hollis, President, W. Walker, Check
Steward, W. Jones, Secretary, and by all the members of the General
Committee of the Society, shows that a similar state of things exists in
the other provincial ironworks ; and it is stated that the Fitzroy Iron
works at Mittagong, are likely to be shut down this year for want of
work.
COACH MAKERS.—In a report dated Sydney, June gth, Mr. T.
Halliday, Secretary of the New South Wales Coachmakers’ Society,
says : ‘ This trade is at present in a very depressed state, one firm alone
having discharged thirty hands, and the greater number of factories are
only working half-time.’ This report is confirmed by the Sydney Globe
of August 28th, according to which a conference of the employers and
employed, in the coachmaking trade, met at the Foresters’ Hall, Sydney,
on the 27th of August, to consider the present depression. The same
paper stated that large numbers of men were out of work, and that the
trade was rapidly declining to utter ruin, hardly any of the factories
being more than mere repairing shops, and that such depression had
not been known for thirty years.
THE SADDLE, HARNESS, AND COLLAR MAKERS’Society of
New South Wales in a report dated Sydney, June 14th, and signed by
J. Cronin, President, W. S. Harper, Treasurer, and G. Stuart, Secre
tary, states: ‘ This particular trade is now and, in fact, has been for a
number of years past in a very depressed condition, owing mainly to
the great importations free of duty from England, the Continent of
Europe and elsewhere, which have the effect of glutting the markets
here, and underselling and driving the local manufacturers out of the
market, except in a few cases where the article cannot be imported.
The long-continued drought has played havoc, financially, with the
farmers and pastoralists of the colony who are the classes from whom
we derive the most support.’
BOOT AND SHOE MAKERS.—Mr. W. P. White, Secretary of the
New South Wales Amalgamated Operative Boot Trade Union writing
under date June 14th observes: ‘ During from four to six weeks of the
year men of this trade are idle from want of continuous employment,
and many hands are paid off in the various factories ; but this year it
has been greater than previously. The men are willing to leave the
trade when they can get a chance of turning their attention to other
things.’ This account is corroborated by an official report on the state
of this trade published in the Sydney Globe of the 24th of August last
under the heading ‘ Alarming Depression in the Boot Trade,’ in which
is given an account of the state of trade from no less than thirty of the
managers or proprietors of different boot and shoe factories in and
around Sydney. For obvious reasons the employers did not wish their
real names to appear in this ominous report, so their names were sup
pressed, and indicated by consecutive numbers. The following is a
summary of this report:—
No. 1. Very slack : closes on Friday until noon on Monday; has
done so for the last seven weeks.
No. 2. Very slack: closed from Thursday to Monday during the
last five weeks.
�9
No. 3. One of the largest m the colony. Has discharged a great
number of hands ; those retained work only seven hours per day for five
days, and are generally paid at 11 o’clock on Saturdays.
No. 4. Men engaged have not averaged two days per week for the
last six weeks.
No. 5. Discharged half the hands nine weeks ago; those retained
Work irregularly.
No. 6. Trade falling off ; factory closed two days last week.
No. 7. Usually employed ten makers and a number of finishers ; now
employ only two makers, whose average is not more than two days per
week for the last five weeks.
No. 8. Usually employed four makers and two finishers. This
factory closed for a week, then re-opened with one maker and one
finisher, the remainder being discharged.
No. 9. No cause for complaint.
No. 10. Has discharged one-third of employés ; those retained average
Only three days per week.
No. 11. Has been closed for the last twelve weeks, with the exception
Of a few apprentices and one man over them.
Nos. 12 and 13. Have been closed for the last three weeks.
No. 14. Has discharged several hands ; those retained work only at
intervals.
No. 15. Trade so slack that the whole of the employés with the
exception of three women’s workmen, were put off the whole of last
week.
No. 16. Very slack; discharged the majority of workmen; those
retained average two and a half to three days per week.
No. 17. Discharged half of hands five weeks ago; the remainder
working casually.
No. 18. Doing fairly well.
No. 19. Closed for the last five weeks.
No. 20. Very dull.
No. 21. Closed for the last ten weeks.
No. 22. Doing a fair trade.
No. 23. Very slack.
No. 24. The largest factory in the Colony. Closes at 1 o’clock on
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and on Friday all
work has to be completed by 11'30 a.m.; pay is issued one hour later;
the factory is then closed until the following Monday. This system has
been in operation for the last three weeks. In this factory some of the
hands who have done exhibition work, that has taken first prizes, are
now making copper toes, and are doing other work usually done by
apprentices and lads.
No. 25. Discharged eighteen hands ; remainder doing limited work.
Most of weekly hands’ wages reduced, some to the extent of ten shillings
per week.
No. 26. Had but one full week during last eight weeks, the average
being three days per week.
No. 27. Trade very dull.
No. 28. Very dull; majority of employés walking about.
No. 29. Firm completely ruined. The whole of the plant was taken
and sold about six weeks ago.
This report further states that there a’re now between 600 and 700
�IO
boot and shoemakers out of work in Sydney alone; and that so deep
and wide spread is the misery amongst them, that numbers of them are
now blacking shoes and selling newspapers in the streets of Sydney, in
order to provide an honest crust for their starving wives and children.
COOPERS.—Messrs. John Strange, President: Henry McPhillips,
Secretary: John Quain, Treasurer, and five members of the Committee
of the N.S.W. Journeymen Coopers’ Society, in a report, dated from
Sydney in June last, after drawing a most gloomy picture of the de
pressed condition of the Coopers’ trade, states : ‘ In conclusion we would
strongly recommend our fellow countrymen in Great Britain and Ireland
to pause and consider before taking the important step of emigrating to
this country, at least, until they receive a more favourable report from
the trade. We hope that this report, will be the means of preventing
much misery and disappointment. There are hundreds here who would
be glad to return to England if they had the chance.’
WHEELWRIGHTS AND BLACKSMITHS.—Messrs W. M’Carty,
President, and G. B. James, Secretary, of the N.S.W. Amalgamated
Society of Wheelwrights and Blacksmiths, state: ‘An almost continuous
depression has existed in our trade for a period of two years, with very
little prospect of improvement. This state of things we attribute to a
recurrence of bad seasons in the pastoral and agricultural districts of
the Colony. The labour market is glutted owing to the influx of immi
grants.’
FARRIERS.—In a report dated Sydney, June nth, Mr. R. F. Bosden,
Secretary of the N.S.W. Journeymen Farriers’ Society, says: ‘The
trade is very brisk from November to April; from April to November it
is very dull. There are plenty of farriers out of work, and numbers of
apprentices finishing their time every week.’
PATTERN MAKERS.—In a letter to the New South Wales Trades
and Labour Council, dated Sydney, June 7th, Mr. E. W. McIntosh,
Secretary of the N.S.W. Branch of the Australasian Pattern Makers’
Society, says: ‘ In reply to your memorandum of the 3rd inst., in refer
ence to the departure of Mr. John Norton as Delegate from the Council
to England, I beg to state, for Mr. Norton’s information, that our trade
has been very dull for nearly two years, during which time very few
pattern makers can boast of constant work. State-assisted immigra
tion is strongljz protested against by our society.’
FURNITURE TRADE.—A report of the N.S.W. United Furniture
Trade Society, dated Sydney, June last, shows that this trade is at a
standstill in consequence of the competition of the Chinese, and the
wholesale importation of furniture from Europe and America.
COAL-MINERS. —Mr. James Curley, General Secretary of the
Hunter River Miners’ Mutual Protective Association, N.S.W., writes in
June last: ‘ Speaking of this (the Newcastle Mining district) it is
literally crammed with labour. The gradual influx of immigrants, from
time to time, has, at last, swamped the mining labour market. The
trade of the district is fully supplied with a surplus of 400 to 500 men.’
Mr. John Owens, Secretary of the Western Branch of the N.S.W.
Coal Miners’ Mutual Protective Association, writing on the 5th June
last, states : ‘ Trade is not brisk on account of their being too many
men. The opinion of this Association is that State-assisted immigration
is very undesirable, as the supply of labour in this district exceeds the
demand.’
�11
According to a report in the Sydney Globe of August 21st, two mines
at Captain’s Flat, Queanbey an, have recently been closed; and the
miners thus thrown out of work—who have not been paid for eight weeks,
—are in a state of semi-destitution. In answer to a petition signed by 100
of these miners, the Minister for Works has promised, if possible, to find
them employment at road making, and to pay them out of the fund for
the maintenance of the unemployed.
The same paper states that the Vale of Clwydd mine has stopped, the
manager having been instructed ‘ to stop work until further. orders.
The proprietors of the. Mount Keira and Mount Kembla collieries, in
the southern district of N.S.W., have recently given notice, to
reduce the miners’ wages after the nth ultimo. The whole of the coal
mining industry is in a very depressed state.
COAL TRIMMERS.—Mr. William Cremor, Secretary of the New
castle Coal Trimmers’ Provident Union, N.S.W., writing under date
June 7th, says : ‘ We have 150 members on the roll, and these are only
working half-time. At no time has the full number been employed.
There are too many workers for the amount of work to be done. The
mines are full, and every trade is more than full}7 supplied with labour.
Newcastle and the mining district could part with, at least, 1,000 men,
and leave but a moderate living for those remaining. In the present
circumstances, State-assisted emigration is a grievous wrong, doubly
inflicted; first, upon those who are already here, and, secondly, upon
those who are brought here. The majority of the new comers merely
gwell the ranks of the unemployed or help to reduce wages by accepting
lower rates, or, if attached to a Union, by further dividing the amount
of work to be done. At present we are making about 30s. per week.’
WHARF LABOURERS.—Mr. T. McKillop, President of the Sydney
Wharf Labourers’ Union, writing from Sydney under date, June nth,
says : ‘ I beg leave to say that the present mode of assisted immigration
is ruinous to the Colonies, as it tends to flood the labour market.’
This is very plain evidence that the New South Wales labour.market
in the above branches is in an absolutely congested state ; and it is the
same in nearly every other branch. Not one of the trades named in
your list of trades and average rates of wages can be said to be
prosperous. Both the agricultural and manufacturing industries in New
South Wales are stagnant. It is true that you make the rates quoted
apply to 1884, and state that they are subject to fluctuations, but the
depression was nearly as bad in 1884 as it is now, and the only fluctuation
has been from bad to worse. Even if the state of things in 1884 had
been appreciably better than it is now, I protest against the data of
1884 being made to apply to 1886, when, as I have shown, every branch
of industry is depressed, and large sections of the New South Wales
working-classes are suffering the acutest distress, many of them being
positively destitute.
GOLD-MINING.—There is a very erroneous and dangerous impres
sion abroad here, which has been fostered by the foolish statements of
persons who should know better, that if an artisan or agricultural
labourer, on arriving in the Colonies, cannot find work at his accus
tomed occupation, he can easily turn his attention to gold-mining.
Apart from the fact that the alluvial diggings, where individuals with
little or no capital formerly managed to gain a livelihood, are. now
exhausted, the more important fact that a man to succeed in mining
�12
must have extensive experience of the most hard and practical kind,
seems to be generally lost sight of here. The days of successful indi
vidual effort in gold-mining have long since passed away ; and what is
required now-a-days is special knowledge, long experience, and, above
all, capital. Mining m the Colonies has now entered on the scientific
stage; and, except in very rare instances, is only successful when pur
sued on an extensive scale, with large capital and under the direction of
experts.
The exciting stories about the wealth of the Kimberley gold fields, are,
for the most part, exaggerations, and even experienced miners should
await further information before joining in the ‘ rush.’ Over and over
again the Australian newspapers have warned the public against
rashly venturing into the Kimberley district, and have pointed out the
hardships and perils to be encountered on the way thither and on the
field itself. Travellers who have returned from Kimberley have warned
diggers not to venture in less numbers than parties of six, with, at least,
a couple of horses a-piece, and supplies for six months. Therefore, no
man should venture unless he has a small capital of between ^200 and
^300, to defray outfit, cost of supplies, expenses of transit by sea, journey
across country, and expenses of return journey in case of failure. Yet
in spite of multiplied warnings, hundreds have recklessly ventured, illequipped, and badly provided, with the result that many of them have
perished either by the spears of the blacks or have been “ bushed,” and
perished miserably of hunger and thirst; while others, who have escaped
these perils, have been unable to return, and have had to gain their
bread by working on the roads, or by sweeping the streets of Derby.
For an agricultural labourer or mechanic to go to the colonies with the
idea of gaining a livelihood, let alone a fortune at gold-mining, is sheer
insanity. There are thousands of experienced European miners and
swarms of Chinese on the spot, who are unable to make a living at it.
Your Publications concerning New South Wales are full of inaccu
racies and misleading statements too numerous to particularise at
greater length. This is not at all astonishing, seeing that you are
issuing old information no longer applicable to the colony. Your
publications appear to have been compiled from books and pamphlets
of the Agent-General, which have been proved over and over again,
both by the working-classes in New South Wales, and by returned
emigrants here in England, to be totally unreliable. The circulation of
such out-of-date and unreliable information appears all the more in
excusable that no effort appears to have been made to revise it. On
behalf of those whom I represent, I have to complain that sources of
the most reliable and complete information concerning the present state
of the Labour Market in New South Wales have been ignored.
Towards the end of last Session, Mr. Burt, the member for Morpeth,
presented three petitions to Parliament against State-assisted-immigration to New South Wales (1) from the Trades’ and Labour Council; (2)
from the Democratic Alliance ; and (3) from the Federated Seamen’s
Union, of that colony. All three of these petitions were nearly identical
in tenor and text; and from one of them 1 quote the second clause :—
‘ That whereas there has been a dearth of employment for skilled
‘ artisans and general labourers during the past few years, the Govern‘ ment has continued to pour into the country shiploads of immigrants
‘ for whom no work could be found. Thousands of skilled artisans,
�* enticed out to this country by fallacious promises of constant employ‘ ment at high wages, have been compelled to accept work as navvies
‘ on the relief works started by the Government of New South
‘ Wales, for the relief of the distress caused by the surplus labour
1 created by the system of State-assisted immigration.
During
‘ the last three or four years the numbers of the unemployed
‘ have increased every year, until this year they may be numbered in
‘ thousands. Last year hundreds of skilled artisans were walking the
‘ streets of Sydney without employment, or food or shelter. They were
' found by hundreds sleeping in the public streets and gardens, until, in
‘ deference to a strong public agitation which took place, the Govern‘ ment was compelled to provide them with temporary shelter, together
‘ with one blanket each, with bread and cheese to keep them from
‘ starving. Relief works had then to be started in order to grapple with
‘ the difficulty. The same state of things has occurred again this year.
‘ Large meetings of the unemployed have been held in Sydney ; the
• Government have been compelled to start relief works anew, and to
‘ establish a Special Government Bureau for dispersing the unemployed
‘ workmen throughout the colony by means of free railway passes which
‘ have been issued in thousands to the unemployed. The men thus
‘ supplied with free railway passes instead of finding employment, have
‘ been compelled to tramp up and down the country in search of work,
‘ suffering greatly from exposure and hunger, and finally forced to accept
‘ work at pauper wages at roadmaking, bush-clearing, stone breaking on
‘ Government Relief Works.’
These petitions, containing such startling information, do not
appear to have been deemed worthy of notice, as you make no
reference to them, although they have been frequently referred
to and quoted in the London and Provincial press.
In like
manner the Official Report of the Third Inter-Colonial Trades’ Union
Congress of Australasia, which met in Sydney in October last year, has
been ignored, although it contains the most full and reliable information
as to the state of the whole Labour Market of all the Australasian
Colonies. But apart from these sources of information—than which
none could be more trustworthy—the statements concerning the depres
sion actually existing in the Labour Market of New South Wales with
which the newspapers of that Colony are full, have not been even noticed
by you. None of the above newspaper extracts, which are taken from the
files of the Sydney papers received by the two last mails, have been pub
lished by you. Neither have my reiterated warnings to intending emigrants,
both in the press, and at public meetings, not to venture to New South
Wales during the present crisis; nor has the statement recently made by
Sir Patrick Jennings, the Premier of the Colony, to the effect that in
consequence of the general depression, the deficit this year would pro
bably amount to ¿"2,000,000 sterling, recommended itself to
your notice.
Had the latest files of the Sydney papers been
consulted such distressing accounts as the following, taken from
the Sydney Globe, of the 23rd of August last, would, perhaps, have in
duced you to considerably modify some of your statements with regard
to New South Wales :
‘THE UNEMPLOYED IN MELBOURNE,
It is now clearly manifest, consist in a great measure, of men
�who have recently arrived in that city from poverty-stricken South
Australia.
On the other hand, the unemployed in Sydney are a
solid substantial fact, and an overwhelming majority of their number
■consists of men who have been identified with Sydney for years.
During the past six months more than 6,000 unemployed
persons have been provided for by the Government either at the
Rookwood, Little Bay, Middle Harbour, Field of Mars, and other
■camps, or by granting them free passes to country districts. The Supply
Bill now brought before Parliament contains the item of £25,000 for the
unemployed, and no amount of sophistry will rub this fact out. The
■expenditure for the unemployed is still going on, and it will probably
total £50,000 before the end is reached. In addition to all this we
have nearly 400 carpenters asking the Minister for Works to give
them work; Coachmakers in destitution and distress ; something
like 5,000 Ironworkers who have only partial employment; while
Saddlemakers, Bootmakers and other indoor workers, are bitterly com
plaining of the hard times and scarcity of work.’
From the same source could have been learned the fact that private charity
is being invoked on every hand to alleviate the widespread misery and
■destitution among the working-classes of New South Wales, and that in
Sydney, as in London,
NIGHT REFUGES AND SOUP KITCHENS.
find more than their legitimate share of hunger and starvation to relieve.
According to the Report presented to the igth Annual Meeting of the
City Night Refuge and Soup Kitchen Charity held in Sydney on the 1st
of last month, when Sir Alfred Stephen, the Lieutenant-Governor of the
Colony, occupied the chair: ‘ It was shown that the number of meals
given away during the past twelve months was 65,685 ; and that shelter
for the night had been afforded in 25,851 instances.’
Unless such information as this is taken into consideration and given
its due weight by you when compiling and authorising the issue of your
■official circulars respecting the state of the labour market of New South
Wales, the utility of such an organisation as that which you control is
utterly destroyed. If such information as I have now placed before you
•can be legitimately ignored, I respectfully submit that the public have
been entirely misled concerning the nature of your functions ; and that
instead of being an organisation for disseminating trustworthy informa
tion concerning Her Majesty’s Colonies, the action of the Government
Emigrants’ Information Office is rather calculated to have the effect of
■shifting the burden of the social evils of this country on to the young
and struggling communities abroad, amongst which, as in the case of
New South Wales, dire distress and deep destitution already exist.
At the very outset of its career the Emigrants’ Information Office
begins by creating doubt as to the thorough reliability of the information
it issues. At the head of all its broad-sheets, hand-books, and pam
phlets it is stated that ‘ this office has been established for the purpose
of supplying intending emigrants with useful and trustworthy informa
tion respecting the British colonies . . . but that the committee of
management cannot undertake to hold themselves responsible for the
absolute correctness of every detail.’ Now this would, perhaps, be all
very well if those portions of the information, the correctness of which
the committee do not undertake to guarantee, were plainly indicated ;
»■V .v'S'"
�i5
but, as it is, the euquirer does not know what is reliable and what is not,
and thus the value of the whole is utterly destroyed. I take it that the,
money of the British taxpayer ought not to be spent in disseminating
one tittle of information calculated to promote emigration that cannot be
relied upon ; and the correctness of the information supplied by this
Government office ought to be guaranteed, or the information not issued
at all.
In the name of the working classes of New South Wales, I have to
enter a most emphatic protest against the careless manner in which the
business of the Government Emigrants’ Information Office is being
carried on. I respectfully suggest that the circulation of the publications
respecting New South Wales, now being issued by you, should be at
once stopped ; and that until they have been thoroughly revised, and made
to give a more correct account of the state of the labour market in that
colony, no further issue of them should be authorised.
I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
JOHN NORTON,
New South Wales Labour Delegate.
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�Wage-Labour and Capital. From the German of
Karl Marx translated by J. L. Joynes and reprinted from Justice.
New and cheaper edition, Royal 8-vo., price id.
By Edward Carpenter.—Social Progress and Indi
vidual Effort; Desirable Mansions ; and Co-operative Production.
One penny each.
The Man with the Red Flag : Being John Burns’
Speech at the Old Bailey, when tried for Seditious Conspiracy, on
April 9th, 1886. (From the Verbatim Notes of the official short
hand reporter.) With Portrait. Price threepence.
The Socialist Catechism. By J. L. Joynes. Reprinted
with additions from Justice.
Demy 8-vo., price id. 20th thousand.
Socialism and Slavery. By H. M. Hyndman,
(in
reply to Mr. Herbert Spencer’s article on “The Coming Slavery.”)
New Edition, with portrait. 16 pp. Royal 8-vo., price one penny.
The Emigration Fraud Exposed.
By H.
M.
Hyndman. With a Portrait of the Author. Reprinted by per
mission from the Nineteenth
for February, 1885. Crown 8-vo.
price one penny.
What an Eight Hours Bill Means.
By T. Mann
(Amalgamated Engineers). New edition with portrait.
Thousand. Price one penny.
Sixth
Socialism versus Smithism: An open letter from
H. M. Hyndman to Samuel Smith, M.P. for Liverpool.
8-vo. Cheaper edition, price id.
Socialism and the Worker.
Price id.
By F.
A.
Crown
Some.
An explanation in the simplest language of tne main idea of Socialism.
The Chicago Riots and the Class War in the
United States. By H. M. Hyndman. Reprinted
from Time, June, 1886.
Price one penny.
International Trade Union Congress, held at Paris,
August, 1886. Report by Adolphe Smith.
Price Three-Halfpence.
24-pp., Royal 8-vo’.
John E. Williams, and the Early History of
THE SOCIAL-DEMOCRATIC FEDERATION.
trait. Price one penny.
With Por
Opening Address to the Trade Union Congress
at Southport, September, 1885. Delivered by T. R. Threlfall. Royal
8-vo., 16-pp. Price one penny.
An able address from a representative working man on political and social topics.
The Historical Basis of Socialism in England.
By H. M. Hyndman.
Paul, Trench, & Co.
Crown 8-vo., price 8s. 6a
London: Kegan
This is the only Book in the English Language which gives the Historical and
Economical Theories of Organised Socialism. It should be carefully studied by all who
desire to understand why Socialists are enthusiastic for their cause, and confident of
uccess in the near future.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Title
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The Australian labour market: startling disclosures
Creator
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Norton, John
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 15, [1] p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: Publisher's list on preliminary page, Other works on socialism listed on unnumbered back page. Title page beneath author has text: 'Distress and destitution in New South Wales - Pauper Relief works & soup kitchens - Bogus 'emigrants' information office'.
Publisher
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The Modern Press
Date
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1886
Identifier
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G4970
Subject
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Australia
Socialism
Labour
Rights
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<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (The Australian labour market: startling disclosures), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Australia
Labour and labouring classes
Poverty
Socialism