Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life Part 18

I do not think that I felt upside down, but nevertheless I had from time to time the feeling of having been buried and dug up again. Born and brought up in a very old house, and having both lived and travelled almost entirely among what was ancient, it was a strange experience to live where there were no relics of an Old World, and hardly any spot where history had been made in the long ago. On the other hand, Australia looked bravely forward, and was, and is, building for the future. As Lord Derby put it in another letter:

"I trust you enjoy colonial society and antipodean politics which at least have the charm of greater hopefulness than we can indulge in in this used up old country."

Some of his accounts might almost have been written to-day; for instance, July 1891:

"The Labour party seems quite as lively with you as it is here.

Questions of that cla.s.s will play a considerable part at the coming elections, and many candidates who call themselves conservative will swallow pledges more than half socialistic."

And again in November:

"Speeches are constantly made but seldom read. England is sick of the Irish question (!) but has no other ready to put in its place. Claims for shorter hours and higher wages are rising in every trade and business, and this is the only subject that really touches public opinion; it is not, however, an easy one for candidates to make capital out of, for opinion in the electoral ma.s.ses has not p.r.o.nounced in favour of or against a compulsory eight hours; which is the main question in dispute. The cat has not jumped yet, when it does pledges and opinions will be swallowed, and a dishonest scramble will follow."

Many cats have jumped since then, but the main outlines of politics are not essentially different.

I confess that I was impressed by the extent to which the problem of the unemployed existed in a country with apparently limitless possibilities.

Meetings of these men took place constantly near the Queen's Statue during 1892, and perhaps a portion of a letter which I wrote to Lord Derby may be worth recording as at least a first-hand impression of what took place at the time.

"As to the unemployed, they present the usual features of the cla.s.s, somewhat intensified by local colour. A kind Government not only provides a free Labour Bureau to meet their case, but has obtained for them certain buildings belonging to the Munic.i.p.ality as sleeping and smoking-rooms, and to the 'married dest.i.tute' is now distributing orders for free rations. I understand that about 9,000 entered their names on the books of the Labour Bureau, but only some 200 have so far proved themselves qualified for free rations. What I am, however, trying hard to make out is why, when everyone tells you 'there is work for everyone in this country if he likes'--'everyone can make money here'--'this is the working-man's paradise,' etc., etc., there should be such numbers of men out of work and undoubtedly so much real dest.i.tution. Possibly two incidents which have occurred lately may a.s.sist in the solution of the problem. A contractor took a number of men from the Labour Bureau to do certain works near the Harbour. He tried to sort them with a view to giving the less efficient 6_s._ a day, the others to have 7_s._ or 8_s._ a day when proved capable of earning it. They all struck, and even the Minister for Works backed them up, saying the contractor must not do that--he must give all the men standard wages, but might send away the inefficient ones and have others in their place."

Of course the wages in Australia have risen enormously in the last twenty-five years. At the time I wrote, as far as I recollect, miners had about 14_s._ a day and other skilled labourers somewhere from 10_s._ to 13_s._ The men employed by the contractor were probably unskilled. I continue my letter:

"Yesterday I visited a large Government Asylum for women ... no poor law here. It comes to exactly the same thing, only, instead of the rates, Government supports the inst.i.tution. But the interesting thing was this--connected with this women's asylum is a farm, and the Matron's husband (an ex P. & O. captain) has voluntarily taken it in hand. He wanted labour, and observed that in a neighbouring Government Asylum for men there are numbers of men capable of doing plenty of work, but not up to the 7_s._ to 10_s._ a day standard. He asked permission to have some of these men, and has now about 40 employed about the farm, giving them board and lodging at this Women's Asylum and from 3_d._ to 1_s._ a day. I saw some at 3_d._ doing 4ft.

draining, and I talked to one, a bricklayer, who was doing excellent work for 1_s._ a day. I calculated with the Master what his board and lodging were worth (meat about 2-1/2_d._ lb.) and it came to about 1_s._ a day, so with 1_s._ wages on six days that was about 13_s._ a week."

I remark that had Trade Unions found out that these men, whom masters would not employ at full rates, were working instead of sitting with folded hands, it would doubtless have been stopped. Meantime, though ancient history, this is not altogether unenlightening.

[Sidenote: LABOUR LEGISLATION]

One rather amusing incident took place in Parliament. "Eight hours" was the Trade Union rule, but was not enforced by law at the time of which I write. A measure was brought into the Legislative a.s.sembly (the Lower House) to make it legally obligatory. First came the preamble, which was accepted, then Clause Two stating that Eight Hours should be the legal working-day, which was pa.s.sed with acclamation, then the various clauses with penalties attached which would oblige employers and employed to abide by the new law. All these were promptly negatived. It seems to have struck somebody that two clauses expressing an academic opinion looked a little isolated, so a member brought forward a third clause stating that n.o.body was to be obliged to work eight hours if he did not want to do so. This was accepted with equal unanimity, and the Bill stood practically thus: 1st. Name. 2nd. Eight hours is a legal working-day. 3rd. No one is obliged to work eight hours. I believe that the whole thing evaporated in a burst of laughter and never went to the Upper House, but of course every sort of stringent regulation as to working-hours has come in since.

However, the immediate sequel of this legislative effort deserves record.

A ship came into Sydney Harbour and stevedores were enlisted to unload it.

After eight hours' work they wanted to go on so as to get overtime pay.

"Not at all," said the captain, "I am in no hurry. Eight hours is a legal working-day, and I am not going to break the law." Whereupon they all struck because they were not allowed to work overtime! This is enough on this burning question, which is certainly not peculiar to Australia.

Before leaving Lord Derby's letters a few extracts with regard to European foreign affairs may be of interest. In March '91 he writes:

"Every thing and person on the Continent is quiet; even the German Emperor. At least he has not been emitting any oracles lately. He is said to have grown tired of Caprivi, and another change is talked of.

There is a vague idea about that he is 'going queer.' I don't know that it rests on any authority."

In the same letter, though this did not then concern foreign politics, he says:

"The only rising man I hear of is on the Gladstonian side--young Sir Edward Grey, grandson of old Sir George, once Home Secretary. He is making a name as an effective debater."

Even Lord Derby could not foresee under what circ.u.mstances these two men, the Kaiser and Sir Edward, would become protagonists twenty-three years later! He also speaks of the "rising celebrity," Rudyard Kipling. In the following May he says:

"Foreign affairs seem quiet all over Europe; I am not behind the scenes, but I know that the diplomatists expect no early disturbance.

The Czar would scarcely indulge in the pleasing pastime of baiting his Jews, if he looked forward to wanting a loan. Besides, he hates soldiering, and takes some interest in finance. The German Emperor has been making a fool of himself, which is nothing new; he delivered a speech the other day, in which he praised the beer-swilling and duelling of German students as being the most effective influences to keep up the true German character! He is an energetic young savage, and that is the best one can say."

It should be remembered that the Czar who indulged in "the pleasing pastime of Jew baiting" was not the luckless Nicholas II so brutally murdered--a victim, say some, to the baited Jews--but his father, Alexander III, whom he succeeded in 1894.

[Sidenote: THE EX-KAISER]

In July Lord Derby refers to the visit of the German Emperor at the beginning of the month:

"He has been ramping up and down, seeing everything, questioning everybody, intent on making the most of his time, and keeping all the world in the condition of fuss and bustle which is the element in which he lives. It is almost too soon to judge the effect of his visit. I should say that he was popular rather than otherwise; not from his manners, which are queer and rather blunt; but there is a certain simplicity about him which pleases, as when he told the Windsor people, in answer to an address, that he had come 'to see his grandmamma, who had always been kind to him.' He had a good reception in the city, though not so enthusiastic as the press makes out. There was about as much interest shown in his state entry as in an ordinary Lord Mayor's Show. He is understood to be well satisfied, and the visit has given people a subject to talk about, which they were beginning to want. None now lasts longer than a week. By that time, journalistic enterprise has said whatever is to be said, and the public grows weary. I am afraid one effect of this German visit will be to put the French in a bad humour, though with no good reason. But that cannot be helped."

Lord Derby seems to have been somewhat rea.s.sured, as in August, after touching on home affairs, he writes:

"The other event is more important: the visit of the French fleet to Portsmouth, where it has been reviewed by the Queen, and civilities of every kind have been exchanged. I call the matter important, because the visit of the German Emperor made a great feeling of soreness in France, and led to endless talk about England having joined the anti-gallican alliance. All that nonsense is ended by the courtesy shown to French officers: and the relations of the two countries, if not absolutely cordial, are again comfortable. The business was well managed and does credit to the people in Downing Street."

Lord Derby continued to send most interesting news, but unfortunately some of his later letters are missing, and alas! he died in the spring of 1893, so I never saw my kind and constant friend again.

[Sidenote: LORD DERBY'S POEM]

I never saw the following lines published. They were given me by Lady Galloway, who told me that Lord Derby believed that he had composed them, as he could not remember having heard or read them when he woke with them in his mind. She wrote down what he said with regard to them.

"Lines made, as I believe, in sleep, in the course of a dream, in which some fellow-student had asked me to complete a poem which he was sending in:

"We judge but acts--not ours to look within: The crime we censure, but ignore the sin: For who tho' versed in every legal art Can trace the mazes of the human heart, Allow for nature, training, faults of race And friendships such as make us brave or base, Or judge how long yon felon in his cell Resisted, struggled--conquered ere he fell?

Our judgments skim the surface of the seas, We have no sounding-line for depths like these.

Jan. 1893, 5 to 7 a.m."

One or two imperfect lines follow. The idea recalls Burns's "Address to the Unco' Guid":

"Then at the balance let's be mute, We never can adjust it; What's done we partly may compute, But know not what's resisted."

Lord Derby, however, goes deeper into the springs of action. Verses composed in sleep are by no means uncommon, but apart from Coleridge's "Kubla Khan," are perhaps seldom as consecutive as these.

CHAPTER XII

FURTHER AUSTRALIAN IMPRESSIONS--NEW ZEALAND AND NEW CALEDONIA

Lady Galloway came out to us towards the end of 1891, and in January she accompanied us on one of our amusing expeditions. This time it was about three days' tour through a hilly--indeed mountainous country. The hills in Australia do not, as a rule, attain great height; it is because they are so ancient in the world's history that they have been worn down by the storms of ages and the ravages of time. We went, however, to open another range of caverns of the same kind as the Jenolan Caves. These, the Yarrangobilly Caves, had been explored, and to a certain extent excavated, within more recent years, and were now to be made accessible to tourists.

Mr. Dibbs and other officials and Members of Parliament, notably some Labour Members, came also; and a mixed mult.i.tude, said to amount to about five hundred people in all, took part more or less in what was called "The Governor's Picnic."

[Sidenote: YARRANGOBILLY CAVES]

These did not follow us all through the hills, but camped in the valley near the caves. Here a comic incident occurred. For the first part of the tour we were in one district, for the last in another, but somehow in the middle we fell between two stools. In Number One and Number Three we were entertained by hosts who displayed the usual lavish hospitality, and all the way we were conveyed by kindly charioteers, and accompanied by a splendid voluntary mounted escort, but in Number Two, the valley near the caves, something had gone wrong. A wooden hut with several rooms had been prepared for our reception, but no food! It was a sort of debatable ground, and either through misunderstanding or, as was hinted, through local jealousy, it was n.o.body's business to act host on the border land.

The poor Premier and other officials were desperate when they discovered our plight, and in the end Dibbs possessed himself of one of the troopers'

swords and rushed off to a party of picnickers who were innocently sitting down to enjoy the supper which they had brought with them, asking what they meant by eating cold mutton while the Governor and his party were dest.i.tute!