WHITE SLAVES

New Zealand Times, 12 September 1907, Page 5

WHITE SLAVES

LECTURE BY MISS A. L.. A. MURCUTT. Miss A. L. A. Murcutt delivered a locfhre in the Concert Chamber of the 'Towm Hall last evening in the presence of a, fairly largo audience. The Hon. G. J. Smith, M.L.0., occupied the chair. Mies , Murcutt had chosen for the subject of her address 'The' .White Slaves of Britain,” a text singularly opportune when it is remembered that there is oil exhibition in the Town Hall a large collection of samples of the work turned out by the “sweated industries of Great Britain.” Miss Murcutt said that although she was Australian by birth, her mother and father were Londoners, and when she first visited England’s capital, its magnitude, its business, its commercial enterprise, and the marvellous development of human industry which met the eye at all points, seemed to bear out to the fullest what she had learned from her parents and had gleaned from books with regard to the intensity of tne exertions of workers in the “emporium of the world.” But later on when she visited the East End of London, she was given many opportunities of seeing and appreciating for herself the truth of the statement that “one half of the world does not know how the other half lives.j’ In the. West End. apparently, all was luxury and comfort. In the East End much was squallor and misery. If one desired to know how people were really situated that person could only obtain the required information by living amongst the people whose conditions in life wore the subject of inquiry. The “sweating” of workmen and workwomen, of boys and girls, and the herding together of men, women and children in small and horribly insanitary apartments, were such that Miss Murcutt found herself unable to describe them in detail. But, said the lecturess, it was not to be supposed that (London alone sinned in this respect. Liverpool, Glasgow, and probably many other cities, were cursed by the same bane. And ’ ‘sweating” in this wise! w-as not confined to Great Britain. It was prevalent on the Continent, and Miss Murcutt feared it was not entirely absent from New Zealand. This latter statement, she said, yvas based upon a remark which she could not help overhearing _at the “Sweated Industries Exhibition” on Wednesday last. A lady said after examining a skirt, which had been made for something like 2d, “I wish we could get things at that price m Now Zealand!”, Of course, that lady spoke unthinkingly; she was not in appearance and bearing one who would , wish to work the heart’s blood out of her fellowwomen. One of the strongest arguments adduced by Miss Murcutt against the sweating was the statement that scientific investigations had conclusively shown that ,such_ dread diseases as cancer and consumption had been disseminated throughout the land through the sweating of diseased workers. Persons in the last stages of such discs ""’s were obliged to provide for the few morsels of food which they required, to make garments, artij ficial flowers, and what not, which passed from their diseased fingers and from the foetid atmosphere of their wretched “warrens,” “holes, or “hovels,” - whichever they might be called; to the homes of the rich and noble. , , ‘ Miss Murcutt was frequently applauded, and was accorded a cordial vote of thanks at the conclusion of her lecture.