WORK BEFORE SCHOOL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20649, 22 August 1930, Page 8

WORK BEFORE SCHOOL

NO AUCKLAND COMPLAINTS, STREET TRADING QUESTION, PLEA FOR REGULATION. Cases of child slavery, in which boys did several hours' work on milk rounds before going to school, were reported at a meeting of the Wellington Education Board, members of which affirmed that this sort of thing could be found in other places. Inquiry was made yesterday at tha Education Board. The secretary, Mr. 1). W. Dunlop, said no cases of children attending school in an exhausted condition had been reported to the board for a considerable time. The last had come from the Hokianga district two or tinea years ago. A similar report was made by Mr. J. S. Cubit, district supervisor of . the child welfare branch of the Education Department. The last complaint of the kind had been received a considerable time ago, but after investigation it had been decided that there was not sufficient evidence upon which to prosecute. Improvement in Position. it would be impossible to detect cases without the co-operation of the public and school teachers, and it does not follow that every case so reported would l>s soundly based or of sufficient gravity to bring it within the four corners of the law. Probably in a dairying district, if not in the city and towns, there are .cases of children being required to work such early or long hours that their capacity for education is seriously impaired, but the impression of those most competent to judge is that there has been a marked improvement in the general standard of parental responsibility in the matter of child labour during the last two decades.Farm children are not expected to do the same amount of drudgery that was common some years ago. Possibly economic pressure may sometimes place a somewhat heavy burden upon children, but, as one man put it, "parents are alive to the importance of giving to their chijdrea the opportunities presented by education." One of the reasons of the drift to the cities has been the desire of struggling farmers to save their children from 'the same hard life and that, necessarily, has meant giving them the best possible school advantages. Further, the public conscience is more. awake to the rights of childhood than ever and people are quick to report to the right authorities any matter which they deem inimical to the interests of children. Legal Provisions. Two Acts, the Infants Act, 1908, and the Child Welfare Act, 1925, provide for the protection of children. Section 23 of the Infants Act, which obviously is rather obsolete, provides punishment for -any person, who, having the custody, control or charge of a boy under 14 or a girl under 16, wilfully ill-treats, neglects, abandons or exposes it in a manner Jikely to cause it unnecessary suffering or injury to its health The following section forbids children under the ages mentioned from begging in the street or receiving alms whether under the pretence of singing, playing, performing or offering anything for sale. It also forbids such children from being on any street or licensed premises for Hie purpose of singing, playing or performing for profit or offering anything for sale between nine o'clock in tlie evening arid six o'clock in the morning, and prohibits any child under 10 years from seeking money or offering, anything tor sale at any time. The 'police are empowered to take into custody, without warrant any* person within their view who commits any offence under this part of the Act and may place the child in safety until it can be brought before a justice. Regulation Never Made. The Child Welfare Act provides that on the complaint of any constable or child welfare officer that a child is neglected, indigent, or a delinquent, is not under proper, control, or is living in an environment detrimental to its physical or moral well-being, any justice may issue a summons to the person having custody of the child to appear before the Children's Court. This Act authorises the GovernorGeneral to make regulations by Order-in-Council in several directions, among them being the regulation of the employment of children in street trading and places of public entertainment. The fact that an Order-in-Council of this nature has never been issued was the subject of comment yesterday by Miss 13. Carnalian. president of the ■ Auckland branch of the National Council of Women. She said the council had no information as to the early morning employment ot„ children to the detriment of their health and education, but it was convinced that there was need of regulation of the employment of children in street trading. It was a common tiling for boys to enter hotels selling papers. The council believed that street trading by children was the cause of a good deal of juvenile' delinquency and it was anxious to see an Order-in-Council .issued under the Act of 1925.