Readers Write

Northern Advocate, 17 March 1944, Page 2

Readers Write

In a recent issue of your paper appeared a repoi't of a case in which a young Maori girl, charged with vag-

APPEAL. TO FAKEHAS

rancy, was condemned to Mt. Eden for one month. It

is time that the pakehas woke up to their responsibility in these matters. I endorse what correspondents have written cf the capabilities of Mr and Mrs Withers and their band of Maori gin workers. Give them the money and the benzine and' Whangarei will be free of this wretched business. It is timely that visiting servicemen should be told of the rules cf our land. What becomes of this unfortunate child on the completion of her month’s gaol? Is she thrown on the mercy of the public again? Her case is one for discipline and training. Is this to be done? These conditions could be cleaned up in Whangarei quite quickly if there was the will of pakehas to do it. Maori men in uniform visit Whangarei on several days in the week, travelling many miles and using valuable benzine. Instead of wasting their time on the streets could they not be used to help? If there were a curfew to keep all young girls off the streets at night, an identification card for Maori girls issued by their respective leaders of their districts, and a policewoman to handle these girls, we would soon-see the end of it. Putting these girls into gaol is useless. If European men and women do not make it their business to handle this matter immediately, they will see the day when they will be very sorry indeed— L. A. KNAPP.

The other day the Dairy Workers’ Union in Whangarei called Mr Holland to bock for something he said about

CRITICISM OF UNIONISTS

unions. I do not know what he said, but I do know that

thousands of thinking men and women, myself included, consider that the stronger unions in the English-speaking world are the greatest internal enemies we have. It looks as if the Australian Government thought the same because of their action with coal miners. Unionists, under the sway of bosses or leaders, with the same gift of leadership as Hitler, strike, go slow, and put up costs, etc., for- no other reason than to show the world in general that they hold key positions and can rule everyone else. Or they think they can. They do not stop to think they are traitors to the small unions, who get no increase of pay to make up for the increases in living brought about by big unions' actions. You never hear of freeworkers like farmers getting together to bring want on the rest of the nation, or going on strike for even a day. or refusing to help a farmer in trouble without fancy pay. They will work all night without extra pay, or any pay, to save a crop or herd. Unionists on the whole arc the same at heart, but are tied down by rules made by the Hitlei class of men. If ail workers were free to gel their share of the work that is going, and were not compelled to be unionists. I do not think unionism as we have it today would last long. Unless unionists are compelled to obey flic law and fulfil signed contracts like other people, the lookout for the Eng-lish-speaking countries is very poor At present, like the Germans, they look upon agreements as scraps of paper.—“NON-UNIONIST."

I was amused by a recent statement in the Legislative Council by the Hon. P. J. O’Kane, who alleged that farmers

FARMERS DEFENDED

are not pulling their weight. This showed that Mr O’Kane is

not -well acquainted with the farmer’s life and habits. The last thing he thinks of doing is to slack without good cause, such as the Commissioner of Taxes suggesting payment; of excess war tax brought about, by long hours, more cows and a better grass season.

It gets me to hear people stty farmers are greedy. Why we never see our produce tested or weighed, and have never seen anything for overtime taken into account for the extra time we put in. What would happen if the farmer decided to take a week’s rest at Christmas and allow the cows to look after themselves? There would be no more cream till Juty or August. This would affect every class in the community, from children crying for their milk right through to the oldest in the land, and reduce the Government’s revenue. We cannot get C/4 an hour overtime. Of course, farmers do not approve of slackening on the farm any more than they approve of other sections of the community holding up much needed produce.

I would suggest to leaders of the Farmers’ Union that the fee for membership be 5/-, and that after the war we pay our war insurance to the union to provide a farmers’ holiday fund, allowing us to enjoy the company of politicians and State officials for about a week at the seaside about Christmas time. Surely our country cousins would not object to the cows drying for six months just for once—C F FLYGER.