XXVII. SOCIAL CONDITION.
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XXVII.
SOCIAL CONDITION.
Class settlement--Convict labour--A digger becomes a lord--Volunteers -- Humane Institutions--Needle-women.
THE whole of the Middle Island has been colonized on a basis that would provide for religious and secular instruction. Nelson first, Otago next, and Canterbury last; and although the idea containing this plan has been long since given up, yet friends and foes readily admit that it was a great advantage to the first settlers. The founders of these settlements took for granted that it would
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be a most difficult matter for an infant colony of three or four hundred persons, scattered over a large tract of country, to secure the regular services of a clergyman or schoolmaster, unless they could come to some definite arrangement before leaving this country. Even in the Highlands of Scotland there is difficulty in this respect, and how much more so in a mixed population at the other ends of the earth? Accordingly the social condition of those settlements is very high, and that of Otago, with which I am best acquainted, will not suffer by a comparison with any district in Great Britain.
New Zealand has never been cursed with convict labour. When Earl Grey, some years ago, asked the provinces if any of them would accept of this moral blight, the universal voice of all the provinces was, Away with them!--we will not enrich ourselves to the ruin of posterity and our adopted land. This is one cause for the high social condition of Otago, and another is the great care that was taken by the founders of the colony to secure a superior class of emigrants, none of whom were convicted of crime, for the first ten years of the settlement, so that Judge Stephen, who lived among them for nearly two years without a case, was at last removed by the General Government to another sphere in the North Island.
Otago, like all other British colonies, is peopled from every quarter of the globe, but its pith and stamina is British blood. Foreigners are not entitled to a vote in public affairs; but if they renounce their own country, and apply to the Sheriff to be naturalized, they are admitted to all the privileges of British subjects.
There is another class often sent to the colonies--ne'er-do-wells. These invariably belong to the upper classes, and are sent out by their friends on the most specious promises of future assistance, or perhaps with the portion of goods that falls to their share, and the result is a mad gallop to ruin, degradation, and poverty. Loosed from all the restraints of home, they soon display their downward tendency, and are shunned by respectable people. One or two of this class have been sought for and found. A digger one day suddenly became an Irish earl of £20,000 a year. It is a
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pleasing fact that the young men born in Otago have not shown a tendency to the drinking customs of the age.
The volunteer movement has aided the cause of temperance very much, for the best shots have found that a steady aim is best secured by abstinence, and nothing will induce them to peril the prospect of the champion belt for the indulgence of drink.
I have frequently seen a whole squad of crack shots competing with the rival shots of another district, and nothing was served as refreshment but ginger beer. The following is an extract from the Otago Times. The top-scorer is the first emigrant boy born in Dunedin, to whose birth reference is made in page 35, and is, on the whole, a fair specimen of colonial youths, who have gone into the volunteer movement with great spirit, and a determination to be efficient in time of need:--
"COLONIAL PRIZE FIRING.
"No. 2 Scottish, competed at the Anderson's Bay butts this morning for choice of company representatives. Nine members came to the range, Sub-Lieutenant John T. Douglas, the officer appointed by the company, being in charge. The weather was dull, with wind from the right and left rear. The ranges, as on the previous day, were 200, 400, 500, and 600 yards, with seven shots at each. The scoring throughout was good, that of Adam with a total of 85, being first-class from beginning to end. At 200 yards Adam was top-scorer, with 27 out of a possible 28; at 400 yards Buchanan with 23; at 500 yards Adam, with a like score; and at 600 yards Taylor, with 16. The scores, in detail, were:--
| 200 yds.
|
400 yds.
|
500 yds.
|
600 yds.
|
Tl.
|
| Adam, 4434444
|
3324234
|
3423344
|
0422420
|
85
|
| Jamieson, 4342322
|
0344344
|
3240334
|
4233343
|
83
|
| Taylor, 3344444
|
3333233
|
3033333
|
3042430
|
83
|
| Creagh, 2344343
|
3434233
|
2333334
|
0233042
|
8O
|
| Wilson, 4442243
|
4334033
|
3232433
|
2023203
|
75
|
| Buchanan, 4433444
|
3343343
|
4322420
|
2002200
|
72
|
| Spalding, 4332433
|
2333433
|
0330403
|
2330034
|
71
|
| Lindsay, 4424332
|
4302300
|
2032333
|
2343003
|
65
|
| Proudfoot, 4432223
|
3330203
|
0034230
|
0 retired."
|
|
There are several humane institutions supported by voluntary
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contributions to an extent that reflects the highest credit upon the public. The first of these is the Hospitals.
The up-country hospitals are supported by the public and the Government on the principle of pound for pound. The hospital of Dunedin is a Government institution. The building is a square massive block, and was erected for £17,000. It has a large piece of ground attached, is well lighted, and ventilated on the most approved principles. The cost of each patient per annum is £38, 5s. 5d., the annual cost of the hospital is £5700, and it is presided over by Dr. Hulme.
The Lunatic Asylum is a Government institution in the suburbs of Dunedin, with fine grounds attached. A great many of the patients recover--78 per cent., while in Great Britain it is only 36 per cent. This institution costs annually £4340, and is presided over by Mr. Hume and Dr. Hulme.
The Benevolent Institution is chiefly supported by the public, for the benefit of indigent and orphan children. There are a great many churches, and a greater number of hotels. There is also a Choral, Acclimatization, and Caledonian Society, a Jockey and Regatta Club.
BUILDINGS AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.
The First Church cost.... £17,000
The University..... 30,000
The Hospital......17,000
The Lunatic Asylum, temporary building.
Benevolent Institution, "
Provincial Buildings, devoted to Government,
Post-Office and Telegraph, cost.. 20,000
Custom-House, banks, churches, business premises, etc., are all wonderful buildings for such a young place as Dunedin.
There is a magnificent graving-dock capable of accommodating war vessels of any size, which cost £55,809, 7s. 1d.
The following is the letter alluded to in page 39:--
"New Zealand Clothing Factory,
Dunedin, 23d December 1873.
"Dear Sir, --It affords me much pleasure to open a correspon-
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dence with you, feeling assured, from the reputation you bear in Otago, that you are the right man in the right place. I only regret not being in a position to nominate labour for this colony. I may state I am but a recent arrival myself, having landed within a month at the Bluff, went from thence to Queenstown, the magnificent scenery of which is almost indescribable; from Queenstown I came here via Tuapeka and Tokomairiro. The valleys the whole way from Lawrence look beautiful; good sheep and agricultural country all the way.
"On my arrival in this city of Dunedin I was struck with its magnitude. The importance of the place is at once recognisable from its extent of valuable buildings, large amount of good roads, kerbing, channelling, lighting, and other good sanitary requirements. The enterprise and energy of its business men is not second to any city I have visited, and I honestly believe, if the present Government policy is persevered in, the future of New Zealand will be great.
"I have come here to settle from Melbourne, Victoria, where I have resided for the past twenty years, and where I was the first man to introduce the industry I am now engaged in, that of a clothing manufacturer, which had its birth just fourteen years gone. There is to-day not less than five thousand men, women, and girls employed in this industry in Victoria, with a wages roll of something between three and four hundred thousand a year, to the almost utter exclusion of European goods; and I sincerely trust I shall be as successful in keeping as large an amount of wealth in this country, and thus induce a population from the overcrowded workshops of Europe to this healthy and prosperous province. As far as my experience goes, skilled labour is almost unobtainable, and if they were to be had, I am prepared at once to employ two hundred men, women, boys, and girls, and in a year from now to double the number. By the system I have laid down, our factory will be worked by a great sub-division of labour, which will enable us to employ a large amount of unskilled labour; and any intelligent person may learn in a very short period how to earn a living--for example, the machine work is
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confined to one division, the cutting to another, tacking another, finishing to a fourth, button-holing to a fifth, buttoning to a sixth, ticketing to a seventh, pressing to the eighth, over-seering to a ninth; and so the garment is completed, each worker becoming in time such an adept at the small part falling to his or her share, that not only are the goods got up in first-class style, but all employed make good wages. I calculate the average earnings, say of two hundred people, comprising men, women, boys, and girls, ranging from 2s. 6d. per week up to £4, at eighteen shillings per week.
"The two-and sixpenny hands are girls of twelve years of age learning their trades, as we make it a rule to pay them from the day they enter the factory--taking them at the above age for twelve months as apprentices, giving them 2s. 6d. per week for the first six months, five shillings for the second six, ten for the third six, and so on; but wherever a girl or boy shows aptitude, as I am glad to say they often do, we are not bound by this law, but advance them more rapidly, as they deserve. A woman who knows her business as a tailoress can make from 30s. to 40s. per week, fifty-two weeks in the year, and unlike the old country (which, with all its faults, I still love), every child a man has here is a blessing, for each one brings something into the general coffer, instead of being a drain on it; and although I have and do employ a large amount of juvenile labour, I have not been a hard taskmaster, as my testimonials will prove. I am proud to say I hold some very handsome ones, subscribed by the labour I have been connected with in Victoria, and from which I have culled an efficient staff of teachers to assist me in this my new undertaking, and all of whom, with one exception, were my own apprentices, and have been in my employ from five to ten years, are all volunteers, and in the enjoyment of good salaries.
"It has always been a source of gratification to me to assist the deserving, by teaching them how to be self-dependent and independent, and if I should induce any who may find it a struggle to gain a livelihood in the old country to come and dwell here in this land of plenty, their prosperity will be my pleasure, and I shall be amply repaid for the slight trouble they may occasion me.
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"Accept, dear Sir, my sympathy in your present undertaking, and believe me at all times ready to afford you information. Wishing you every success, --I remain very faithfully yours,
"J. F. ANDERSON,
Managing Partner in the firm of
HALLENSTEIN BROTHERS & CO.,
New Zealand Clothing Factory, Dunedin."
