DISTRESS SN FAR NORTH

Evening Post, Volume 50, Issue 50, 27 August 1926, Page 8

DISTRESS SN FAR NORTH

GUM-DIGGERS DEEP IN DEBT

BIG FAMILIES CANNOT ESCAPE

INVESTIGATIONS ON THE SPOT,

(By Telegraph.)

(Special to "The Evening Post.")

AUCKLAND, This Day.

Further particulars of tho distress among tho gum-diggers in tho North is given by tho special representative of tho "Herald," who has traversed tho affected districts this wook. "It is not charity we want, but an adequate price for our gum." This is tho cry of tho hundreds of the people who are facing hard times. Most of tho gum-diggers are only selling sufficient to keep themselves and their families in food, and if it were not for tho credit advanced by the storekeepers many of them would have starved long ago.

A family of ten Maoris, including three adults, at Waihopo, has earned since Christmas an average of £8 a month. The whole of the money has beon spent in purchasing food, and an account of £65 with the local storekeeper remains unpaid. The father had three weeks of relief work on the road at 14s a day. Four blankets between ten is not sufficient in cold weather.

From £5 to £6 per mouth from the sales of gum seems to be an average income for a family.

A noticeable feature of the Maori dwellings is their cleanliness, and this is a contrast to those of some of the Europeans. Nevertheless, most of their tin sheds leak badly in wot weather owing to the fact that they are made of second-hand corrugated iron sheets, riddled with nail holes.

Several of -the schoolmasters iv the Northern townships consider the reports of poverty exaggerated, and are much averse to distributing charity on the grounds that it demoralises the Maoris. The latter, thoy say, are accustomed to living under the present conditions, and cannot starve while they can fish. Most of the storekeepers, on the other hand, are favourable to the distribution of clothing, while most of the families, when asked if they wish for gifts, point to tho poverty of their rooms and bare their chests to show how little they have on. LIVING ON CREDIT. A great' many of the people are heavily in debt to the stprekeepefs, and will find no relief until the prices of gum improve, |if they ever do. Accounts of £30, £40, and £50 are in I many places outstanding, and when tho men get two or throe weeks of. relief work their earnings are only sufficient to pay for present needs. Iv many cases the credit is stopped at an early stage, but where a man's earning power is not impaired his credit account may stand as high as £75. While the price of food and clothing is much higher than in Auckland, it is true that rents are negligible;- sometimes 5s a week, sometimes nothing at all, but then the accommodation is of tho poorest.

Storekeepers point out that tho freights by sea are heavy, averaging £2 to £3 a ton by space measurement, and the goods have often to be carted many miles to the stores. The position storekeepers find themselves in is an indication of tho depression that has overtaken this region. Those who deal in cash sales do ■ very little business. Some of them are giving credit to the extent of hundreds of pounds, '' carrying the people on their backs" as they put it. One of them produced his books, which showed that, while £100 was owing on outstanding accounts two years ago, the amount of credit now on his books is no less than £756. It is stated that when a storekeeper closed his business at Te Hapua a few months ago he went away leaving £500 of uncollected debts. "LEAVING THE SINKING SHIP." Thirty single men have left the Waihapo district for the' south in the past three months, and the exodus has not been confinedto Waihapo. Hardly any single men aro left on tho Peninsula. Their departure was probably taken on the advice of the' Minister of Lands, who advised them to abandon "the sinking ship" last Christmas. The married men aro prevented by their responsibilities from following their example. Seven and eight children, which is the typical Maori family, keep the gum-diggers tied to the locality, and, even if tho families decided to migrate to tho southern centres and risk unemployment, they could not find enough money to transport themselves.

Owing to the depression tho weekly picture shows at Tokao and at Waihopo have been discontinued, and no dances-have been held at Houhora this winter.