WORKING AT TEN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22984, 11 March 1938, Page 11

WORKING AT TEN

CHILD LABOUR HOURS

BOYS AND GIRLS BEATEN

DR. H. RANSTON'S MEMORIES

60TH BIRTHDAY RETROSPECT ' ag - c The Rev. Dr. H. Ranston, principal of Trinity Methodist Theological College, celebrated his 60th birthday yesterday. The occasion has inspired thrf following retrospect from his pen: — Memory has been very active this week. It is 50 years ago that I began to earn my living. I can see myself now—a small lad of ten, on a cold, wet March morning at half-past five, making my way to a woollen mill; to join the large army of child labourers. It had to be; for I was one of the oldest of a large family, and money, even a little, was needed to feed and clothe us.

All the poorer Yorkshire people felt the same necessity. It was tho usual course. "What"had to bo must be. Few people realised the damnable cruelty of it all; it was simply accepted that at ten one was old enough to become a wage-earner. * Adventure Becomesxlrightmare I was not a little proud that morning clad in my new white smock carrying my tea in a can and my breakfast in a red handkerchief. At last 1 was somebody; real life had begun, a great adventure had commenced. My heart beat high, ev.en though .the adventurer did wear clogs, and all, he had become was a "doffer" in a woollen mill. Never shall I forget my elation as I brought home my first wages. They were not much for a week's work, after toiling a fortnight for nothing—only one shilling and threepence, but to me it seemed the beginning of manhood. I was taking my place in the world of men.

I was not an hour in that mill 50 years ago before I was brought to my senses and rudely bereft of my adventurous dreams. The "overlooker" gave me a sound thrashing. What I had done to deserve this I did not know r ,although I learnt afterward it -was the! usual practice in that mill to thus "break-in" the lads very soon after their arrival. Soon the life which had promised to be an adventure became a nightmare. Cruel Treatment We lads were again and beaten on the. slightest provocation, and often apparently with none at all. A favourite weapon of torture was known as the "lifter belt," a leather strap vigorously applied to that part of our bodies which happened to be nearest at the time. 1 have seen a lad of 11 knocked down with a blow front an irofc screw wrench, and scores of times, as punishment, heavy "skeps" of full bobbins placed on a lad's back, far too heavy for such young shoulders to bear.

Nor were the girls I was there when the ten-year-old sister of one who became a well-known member of Parliament was struck to the ground by a blow on the head.' We felt an unholy delight when this same much older brother waited a few days later for the overlooker and gav§ him a good hiding. In this mill, and in some others, the *. system was encouraged of "lifter-belt-ing" the lad ; \vho was last in "doffing" his share 'each spinning frame. Of course, there were mill-owners far more kindly in their treatment of the hands, but it was not my good luck to work for them. Value to Character v ' r : ■ r , Lad as I was, the iron entered into my very soul. So much so that when I \vent Homo nine years ago and saw at a street corner one of the overlookers —now an old man —it. took all the religion which a Theological College professor -*had to keep him from "biffing" the tyrant of 40 years before. Thank God, the whole wretched system has gone! Philip Sqgwden was my friend, and I remember well a his home when I was 18. He was fighting the mill-owners on this very question. Never, he declared, would he rest until child-labour was abolished. There were compensations, however. We lads learnt early to take life seriously. The Yorkshire mills were not "Unproductive of character. Hard life as it was, it helped to make men of not a few. Strange as it may seem, some of the mill-owners who tolerated these abuses were intensely interested in the night school education of their hands. And many a man in an important position later owed his first steps toward advancement to the help of the _ very men whose mill system had used him so harshlv. ... All the week I have been asking mvself this question. Supposing that had not been compelled 50 years ago to start work under such hard- conditions, would it have been better for me? Honestly, I cannot answer m the affirmative.