being widely distributed over the district, went into the pockets of one man, who generally arranged to leave the colony and live in England as soon as he had made sufficient money.
It was found, also, that the contracting and sub-contracting system led to the congestion of the labour market in districts where large works were being carried out. When advertisements were published calling for tenders for large works, unemployed workers flocked to the spot, hoping that they would be employed as soon as operations commenced; but if the successful tenderer was a contractor who resided in another part of the colony, and already had a good staff of workmen, or knew where to find reliable men who had worked for him before, he took a regiment with him, and the outsiders had no chance.
Under the co-operative system, every worker is a contractor. He is his own master, and he has a personal interest in carrying on the work economically and successfully. Above all, it is claimed for the system, after fifteen years’ experience, that it places him on a much higher plane, and enables him to comprehend more thoroughly the dignity of labour. As for the State, it benefits by having the work carried out at the actual value. The system gives the Government complete control over the expenditure. If it wishes to push the work through rapidly, it can increase the number of men. Departmental officers state that they find the work is done better under the co-operative system than under the contract system. The new system has been attacked repeatedly, but its operation has been attended with more success than Mr. Seddon expected.
He reorganised the defence forces of the colony in a practical manner, arranging for the appointment of an English officer, conversant with modern ideas, to the chief command. He placed the permanent force and the volunteers under district commanders, and he made both branches of the defence service more attractive.
He has seldom appeared to better advantage than at this time, when he was placed in charge of three large departments. He felt that he could gratify his ambition to do something for the colony. He loved the sense of power his position gave him. He regarded it as an exalted position. Like Sir Henry Parkes,
