CHILD SLAVERY Truth

NZ Truth, Issue 750, 1 November 1919, Page 4

CHILD SLAVERY

Truth

THE PEOPLE'S PAPER

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1919.

-♦ Fostered by the Tory Reactionaries

It was so long ago since we had had the words "Child Slavery" used m application to, and as descriptive of a condition of things existing m New Zealand, that when the Hon. Mr. I-lanan made use of them the other day m the House many of his fellow members thought ho was recalling ancient history, and it was some time before they quite realised foe was speaking m the present tense. When they did realise this, there were sneers from some of the farmer's friends, and one newmade Minister sarcastically interjected, "Why didn't you do something- when you had the portfolio?" There was a world of meaning m Mr. Hanan's reply: "Ask your colleagues." Ask the Tory Prime Minister, and the Tory ActingPremier, and their Tory henchmen, who vetoed every effort put forward by the Liberal Minister of Education to bring this country's educational system close up to, if not m advance of, that of the most progressive countries to-day. In spite of reports by headmasters and by school inspectors, the Tory Government professes to believe that there is no child slavery m New Zealand. If the truth were known, the child slave on the farm is as much m evidence as ever he was m this fair Dominion. We do not refer to' the child that milks a couple of cows or does a few odd jobs. There 'is no slavery there. But these unhappily are the exceptions. It could hardly be otherwise with land selling at the price it is bringing to-diy. In spite of the high returns for butterfat the man taking up farming to-day has as keen a struggle to make ends meet and leave a little over to help wipe off the "monkey," as ever the farmer of fifteen or twenty years ago had when butter-fat brought only eightpence and ninepence a pound, but land sold at £15 to £25 per acre, and cows could be had at £6, £7 and £8. The struggle is just as hard to-day for the new beginner on the farm, and despite the increase m wages the struggle is just as severe for the city parent. That is why the percentage of children attending school has fallen of late years. As the economic struggle grows keener the earning of the children come more and more into request to help keep the wolf from the door. There are those who go through life wearing- rosecolorod glasses, and who probably assert that, "There is no poverty m New Zealand — at least, one never sees it — and certainly there is no need for any child to work who ought not to be working." It was because of statements similar to the foregoing 1 that led Mr. Hanan, while Minister of Education, to have a return drawn up showing the number of school children who worked for wages before or after school hours. Here are a few cases taken at random from the return supplied to the ex- Minister. (2) Standard V. boy sells papers from 5.30 a.m. to 8 a.m. daily, and additional on Friday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. till noon; after lunch till 5 p.m., after tea till 9.15 p.m. (4) Standard V. boy earns 15s 6d per week, selling papers from 5 a.m. till 8 a.m., and from 3.30 p.m. till G ip.m., Fridays till 9.15 p.m. and all day on Saturdays. (20) Standard V. boy, 12 years, earns 7s 6d, milk cart, 4.30 a.m., till 8 a.m. (ss) ; grocer's boy, few messages daily (2s 6d). (27) Standard V. boy, 12 years, earns 10s; delivers milk, 5,45 a.m. till 7.30 a.m. (ss) ; newsboy from 5.80 till after 7 p.m. (5s 6d). (5) Standard VI. boy, earns 16s; 6 a.m. till 7.45 a.m. (9s); and 4 p.m. till 6.30 p.m., papers (7s). The return is a bulky one, hut space will not permit of our quoting more. The information given refers to school children who work for wages before or after school hours. The scope of the return is thus limited. It is a well-known fnct that the little farm slaves of "God's Own" do not receive wages. Indeed many children m New Zealand have milked on dairy farms from as early as they can remember up till they have been verging on manhood and womanhood, without receiving a penny of wages. If they wanted wages when they were old enough they had to leave home and seek service with the stranger. * # • If one would get to know the truth of this question, a visit to a school once a week would be illuminative. Some children are well and wholesomely fed; many are not. In nearly all our schools you can find children poorly clad and m a most unhealthy condition — weak of mind and unhealthy of body, a prey, because of their low vitality to every sickness and epidemic that comes along. Any schoolmaster .can tell of any number of cases m which the conditions are cruelly unfair to the children. He knows that the intelligent child of poor parents is compelled to leave school to work at drudgery when the State would be the better by their having a proper education. Schoolmasters have told "Truth" that often with regret they mark the departure from school-life of intelligent children whom they would have liked to have had under their care for a few years longer. The exodus from school-life, particularly m country districts, commences at the fourth standard, and there are schools m which there is rarely a six standard scholar. The statements of teachers and inspectors of children falling asleep while m school because of having been up from the middle of the night milking cows, and having milked cows the previous afternoon up till close on bedlime, make sad reading. And ! this goes on all through the season, Sunday and week day. Is it any wonder that many of these children never get past the fourth standard? Indeed the marvel is that many of them do so well and that any oC them succeed m taking their proficiency certificate. # # * An educational authority, writing on child labor, says: There is more m the child labor question then the mere keeping of children out of factories. They should be kept m school; and to do this, books and clothing, food and shelter, between school hours must be provided. But where are these things to come from when the. children and the parents are unable to provide them? How can children live without a job, when the job is the only means of getting a living? For these and other reasons the children leave school far too soon. From i the number completing the fourth standard year to the number eomplet--Im- the fifth standard year, there is a loss of 15 per cent. From the fifth standard to the 3lxth standard the loss Is exactly double, while of those completing the sixth standard year not mere than 12 per cent, complete the seventh, it Is after the children leave school , that the difference.'; m physique become more marked between the overworked, underfed child and the child that has been well-cared for. For instance, before the war, the average - height at fourteen years of age, m the " schools m Britain, was, for boys of the c working class, f.7.76 inches, while for - the secondary school boy of the same age, the average was 66.11 inches, a

difference or over eight inches m favor of the well-cared-for child, The average weight of the same respectively, was 54.611b5. and 99.201b5., a difference of nearly Ir.lbs. m favor of the boy who has no work to do before or after school hours, and who is well-fed and well-looked after. These figures prove the effect respectively, of bad and good conditions, and prove the truth of the words, . Not gold, but only men can make A nation great and strong. How long is it going to be before our ru'.ers realise that it is the children that make the nation?