CHILD LABOR

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 4 September 1915, Page 2

CHILD LABOR

In common with New Zealand, New South Wales is periodically treated to an outbreak of discussion regalcung child.labor on tarnis. Une inspector oi scnools (says me Australasian) lias been conciuually wivuing to tne press tor some yem& pusL, and. his statements have always oeen very serious. Lately tne president or the .Dairy Mariners Union nas taKen up arms on tae other side, and a number or otner weilmeaning people nave joined in tne fray, un the one side it is freely asserted that ciiiidren are so overworked on the farms, and their hours are so long, that when tiiey go to scnooi tiiey cannot keep their eves open, it is noc said that this condition of arfairs is universal; but the side ior the children continually asserts tnat in many instances tne cnildren are practically slaves. Apparently', there is a gooa deal of ignorance on both sides, me school inspectors and others who have taken up the cause of the children on farms seem to have no practical knowledge or the usual .way m which the family system is carried on. Vviaie, on the other 4iand, advocates for the - farMiers, who nave, perhaps, never seen work on a farm, aie guided by the appearance of the' children, who are usually well dressed, and tresh enough looking when they go to school. Tne. farmers very naturaly maintain that conditions which would appear very harsh to people accustomed to seeing cnildren going to school and doing nothing else are not really very hard on the youngsters. The actual work is not such as would impair the healtn of boys and girls nearly so much as would close jobs in factories, and it" can easily be shown that, provided the children get plenty of sleep, the fact that they milk cows and do other work about the farm would rather tend to a sturdy growth rather than to deterioration. Those who really understand the position say that the question of hours of rest or sleep is tne whole point. This would seem to make it easy for an intelligently conducted enquiry to reveal exactly how much there is in the charges of child slavery.