354 TiMEHRl. 



of, but a6lually the leading positions in the community 

 of which they form part, and where this class can help 

 towards the attainment of the common good is in 

 striving to be more self-reliant and in cultivating habits 

 of thrift and economy. For the dishonest employers the 

 only measure required seems to be the amendment of the 

 penal code in order to meet with and discourage the 

 repetition of such offences as they are guilty of, and which 

 tend to make an already bad labour supply still worse. 



The depression in sugar and the abandonment of 

 various sugar estates may set free a supply of labourers, 

 who have not as yet attempted the bush as the sphere in 

 which to earn their livelihood. If this should be the 

 case, and it is by no means unlikely that it will be, it is 

 to be hoped that the new labour, skilled as it must be 

 in greater or less degree, in the main requirements in 

 the labour line at the diggings, viz. good cutlass, axe and 

 shovel men, may meet with a fuller measure of fair 

 dealing than those who preceded them have done, 

 and that the relations of employers and employed, may 

 in consequence be strengthened and improved to the 

 advantage of both parties. Here again the estab- 

 lishment of a single registering agency would meet the 

 case, as has been testified to by witnesses before the 

 Commission appointed to enquire into the state of the 

 Gold Industry and easy acquirement of Crown Lands. 



Amongst the most, if not the most destru6tive 

 causes of the prosperity of the Industry in its existing 

 shape, is the wholesale theft of gold from placers, which 

 is carried on in spite of all the precautions for searching 

 and supervision that have been taken to stop it. Most 

 of it is done by dishonest foremen in charge of the toms 



