✨ Government Notifications and Petition
NEW ZEALAND
GOVERNMENT GAZETTE.
(SOUTHERN PROVINCE.)
All Public Notifications which appear in this Gazette, with any Official Signatures thereunto annexed, are to be considered as Official Communications made to those Persons to whom they may relate, and are to be obeyed accordingly.
By His Excellency’s Command,
S. E. GRIMSTONE, Acting Secretary.
VOL. I.] WELLINGTON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1847. [No. 3.
Secretary’s Office, Wellington,
21st September, 1847.
HIS Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor has been pleased to direct that the following Petition, relative to the changes which have recently been made in the wages of European laborers, employed on the Road Parties, and his reply thereto, be published for general information.
By His Excellency’s Command,
S. E. GRIMSTONE,
Acting Secretary.
PETITION
UNTO HIS EXCELLENCY LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR EYRE.
HUMBLY SHEWETH,—That in consequence of your Excellency’s resolution of employing Natives, on the Roads, has caused an immense number of your fellow-countrymen to be thrown out of employment, men who are both able and willing to work, and who find it impossible to get work on the beach, and many going about and do not know how to find a meal’s victuals, and not a roof to find shelter under, who have to sleep at night either on the beach exposed to all kinds of weather, or in the bush.
Shipping there is none, or, at most, what there is can only engage a few hands, and those few engaged, by others leaving, to be placed in the same circumstances as ourselves.
Farming work where is it to be had; we can find none, and if to be had, what is the paltry pittance they give in the shape of wages. It may be said that it is sufficient to keep us from starvation. True, but is it to be expected that men are to work late and early to gain no more than will help them to eke out a miserable existence, and is it possible that a Briton is to be placed on a par with Natives, who can live for about one third cheaper than we can, who have never been accustomed to the uses of money, and never known what the want of it is, who have their gardens to raise as much as supply their wants. Is it to be expected that in a British Colony, which is monthly receiving emigrants, who leave their home and all that is dear to them in the hopes of bettering themselves, are to be landed on a beach to starve, or should they get work receive no more than keep them in life, when they can have no hopes of being able to get clothing, and when nothing is allowed for the tear and wear of man’s body. No, surely these things are not to be; we would fain hope so, and therefore your Petitioners would feel grateful by again employing us on the Roads, or devise some other channel, where we could find employment.
Something must be done, your Excel-
Next Page →
New Munster Gazette 1847, No 3
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
🏛️ Publication of Petition and Reply on Labor Wages
🏛️ Governance & Central Administration21 September 1847
Petition, Labor Wages, Road Parties, European Laborers
- S. E. Grimstone, Acting Secretary
👷 Petition Regarding Wages of European Laborers
👷 Labour & EmploymentPetition, Labor Wages, European Laborers, Road Parties, Unemployment
- Lieutenant-Governor Eyre