SHEARERS' ACCOMMODATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 145, 21 June 1926, Page 8

SHEARERS' ACCOMMODATION.

EAST COAbT CONDITIONS

MAORI COMPLAINTS.

(By Telegraph.—Parliamentary -Reporter.)

WELLINGTON, thig day.

Complaints about the nature of. tbi accommodation provided for Uaori shearers, particularly in the East Gout district, were made by a deputation from the New Zealand Workers' Unioa which waited on the Minister of Labour this morning. .;

It was stated that gangs were-beijjg asked to live under conditious whidi were not a credit to the owners of stations, and the Labour Department was urged to insist upon the regnl*. tions being adhered to.

In asking that inspections generally should be made while shearing wai actually in operation, Mr. C. Baldwin stated that in many instances the'inspectors were not paying visits at tta right time. The Department had agreed to inspect quarters while the work nil in progress.

"I think that is being done," » marked the Minister (Hon. G. J. Anderson).

Mr. Baldwin: "To some exten s hat not as thoroughly as we desire."

Mr. J. Whyte referred specifically to shearing sheds in the Gisborne district Slight improvements had been made-ai a general rule, but in some cases the quarters were unfit for human ocfenp* tion.

The accommodation in Hawke's Bay/he said, is fair, but there are some terrible places in the Gisborne section, le instanced one station where the natfte accommodation was just above a creek. A little further up the stream all the slaughtering was done, and fl« shearers had to wash in the creek, while the water was also used for cooking: No beds were provided and the gangs had to sleep on the floor of the hnt, single men and single girls being cooped up in the same room. "I think It. Iβ & slight upon the Pakeha," he said, "that the Maori race should be subjected to the conditions they have to live under up there." Employers sometimes stated in- reply to complaints concerning accommodation that the Maoris destroyed their accommodation, or that they.did not use what was provided. He would say in support of the natives, however, that they did not try to depreciate tie value of the owner's property. He had never been shown over any station when there had been destruction.

The Maori shearers did not tackl* the employers for more wages, but they were anxious for their accommodation to be improved. "They know what* bath is," raid Mr. Whyte, l: and they do not think it is a place to fish for ton*

"They are not all wild and woolly, like some of the Maoris that come from the Urewera. Many of them hare been through Te Aute College, and have served in the war."'

Mr. Whyte said that the older natives, who had been used to primitive oondi* tions, were dying out. "Would not the Maori prefer toll*, on the floor?" the Minister asked.

A native member of the deputation: That may have been when we were cannibals, but not at the present day. Replying, the Minister promised that a special officer of the Labour Depart' ment would be instructed to inspect the s- tions on the East Coast before J» commencement of the next shearing season. This was the third year in succ< .sion in which complaints had been made, and the matter would be investigated. The Maori had as much right t« good accommodation as the pakeha.