VERY DEFECTIVE

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 233, 28 June 1922, Page 6

VERY DEFECTIVE

ACCOMMODATION FOR SHEARERS

COMPLAINTS FROM THE WORKERS

CONDITIONS ON THE EAST COAST

Serious allegations regarding the accommodation provided for shearers and other farm workers in various parts of New Zealand were made-by representatives of the New Zealand Workers’ Union in an interview with the Minister of Labour (Hon. G. J. Anderson) yesterday. The complaints related particularly to the Gisborne and Hawke’e Bay districts. Mr. J. Whyte told the Ministir that the provision made for Maori shearers in the Gisborne district was shockingly bad in very many cases. There was absolute neglect of the ordinary decencies on many of the stations. The shearing parties comprised men, women, and girls, and they were herded together in a fashion that ought not to bo permitted. He had inspected thp accommodation from Gisborne right round the coast to Hicks Bay, and had found only about three stations where decent accommodation was provided. The usual reply to complaints was that the Maoris aid not need good accommodation, because they would sleep anywhere and cat anything. He denied that this attitude was justified by the facts. The Maoris showed a strong desire to live decently. Many of the men had been to ths war, and many of the women and girls had been to the schools. They objected very strongly to the accommodation and conditions that wore provided for them. Dealing with particular cases, Mr. Whyte mentioned a station where thirteen Maoris, men, women, and children, were put to sleep in a shed 181 .t by 20ft. without any bunks or other furniture. The doge had been kept m the shed during the winter. He had experienced similar conditions himself on other stations. Married couples, unmarried men, and unmarried girls were required in many places to sleep in the same room, wash in the same creek, and use the same conveniences. He had seen the shearers sleeping on old wool spread on sheets of corrugated iron. The quarters on dozens of stations were inadequate, insanitary, and dirty. . . A Maori organiser, Mr. B. lutaki, told the Minister that the sheepfarmers of the Hawke’s Bay district preferred to employ Maori shearers because they believed that the Maoris would not ask for anything or complain about anything. If they employed pakeha shearers, on the otner band, they would have to provide fair conditions. “To my opinion that attitude is very bad,” said the organiser. ‘‘One station has no accommodation whatever. They pull covers off the haystacks and make shelters for the Maoris. At another station the Maori shearers have to bath in a swamp, with water up to their ankles and mud to their knees. The shearers sleep in the implement ehed with a fire in an oildrum to keep them warm.” He insisted that the Maoris were not content with these conditions. They were anxious to have the accommodation improved to a reasonable extent. The Minister, in reply, said that he had been finding difficulty in arranging for the inspection of shearing accommodation. He had now arranged with the Agricultural Department that the stock and rabbit inspector? should act also as inspectors for the Labour Department, and he hoped, in this way to secure the efficient inspection' of the quarters provided for shearers. He had received reports regarding the stations that ha-d mentioned by the deputation, and he noticed that according to the reports, the accommodation originally provided had not been taken care of by the Bhc<irßr3. Mattresses ond beds hau been pulled to pieces, crockery and utensils scattered all over the place, and general disorder created. Ho was going to have these charges thoroughR investigated. The inspection would he moro frequent than it had been tn 'the past. He certainly behoved that ’the Maori shearers should have decent accommodation. Ha was toW that there had been an improvement in the conditions at the southern stations, and that some of the charges lhade in connection with them were not supported by facts. The accommodation would have to bo remedied in cases where it was defective, but he was not going to demand that farmers should spend n lot of money at the present time, while they wore experiencing severe financial stringency. Ho had to accept conditions as they were and he could" not demand that farmers should spend money now because they had been in a position to spend it in past years. But the accommodation in all cases would have to be sanitary p.nd healthv. There was no excuse for dirt. When decent accommodation was provided it was the duty of the shearers to look after it. Mr. Whyte: We stress that with the men. . , , , The Minister: There is no doubt that in many cases it had nob been looked after. , , Mr Townsend: Wo admit that. The Minister: An employer finds that the bathroom he has provided is being used as a bedroom, ana in some cases the bath is filled with Ml Borts of ’rubbish, even of filth. Ihe union ought to give attention to this matter.