CONTROL NEEDED.

Auckland Star, Issue 265, 8 November 1929, Page 7

CONTROL NEEDED.

ASIATIC EMPLOYERS.

MAORI WORKERS' CONDITIONS

"DISGRACEFUL" AT PUKEKOHE

COMMITTEE'S RECOMMENDATIONS,

(By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. The Native Minister presented to the House of Representatives to-day the report of the committee appointed to investigate the conditions under which Maoris are employed by Asiatics in market gardens. The committee comprised Dr. Hughes, medical officer of health at Auckland, Mr. W. Slaughter, of the Labour Department, and Mr. Tukere te Anga, of the Native Department, and it was assisted by Dr. Ellison, director of Maori hygiene. It was found that in fifty Chinese gardens inspected in the Auckland district seven females and four male Maoris were employed, while at Pukekohe the number in the busy season reached fifty-

The committee declares that at Pukekolie the accommodation provided for the Maoris is disgraceful. Overcrowding is prevalent and sanitary accommodation is most primitive. The general health of the Maoris was good, but living conditions must have a degrading effect. The general standard nowadays set by Maoris is much higher than the standard of their Hindu and Chinese employers.

Forty-five Half-caste Children,

The committee had great in ascertaining definite facts regarding Maori women living with Chinese, and it expresses. regret the Commissioner of Police refused to allow his officers to provide information in their possession. The Akarana Maori Association produced figures showing that forty-five half-caste children had'been born to twenty-seven Maori girls by Chinese in three years, and that seventeen other girls had returned to their homes in trouble. There were evidences of such associations at Otaki,'and what is called "a distinct drift" at Wanganui and Foxton. Minimum Wage Suggested. The committee recommends:— Strict control of the living conditions in market gardens. Prohibition of the employment of Maori females under twenty-one in gardens controlled by Asiatics. Provision for a minimum wage for all time workers, and suitable control over piecework agreements. The committee says a more permanent solution of the difficulties could be provided by the education of the Maoris with an agricultural bias, the speeding up of the consolidation of Maori land,, interests, the setting aside of areas for farmlets,. the revival of Maori arts and crafts and arrangements for marketing the output, and a domestic training for Maori girls.