WHITE CHILD SLAVERY

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 14

WHITE CHILD SLAVERY

TEACHERS' REVELj(TIONS. THE CURSE OF THE COW. During the proceedings of tlie annual conference of school teachers yesterday, (says the "Sydney Morning Herald' of December 24) Acting Inspector Blumer^ who has had many years of experience mi -the teaching profession, bo^h in the city, and in .the country, districts' of. New, South Wales, referred " to ' the trials and vicissitudes of the sohool days of the little ones , in the 'farming areas^ of this State.' As an illustration of his remarks- he related a case which had but recently com© ander. his notice in one of the orosperous dairying districts, and which he indicated ,was only typical of many hundreds at others. He found' a bright little girl, he told his interested auditors, scarcely eight • j«eaj*' of • age, who was' required by her> j*aiientß to milk 13 cows every morning, preparatory to walking four, .miles along a bosh, track to school. Tired, and ,wearv^ with her 4>y'3 exertions, she was compelled to return home again on foot, only to"' repeats tiie milking operations before -being aillDwea to retire. Cries of " Shame !" -cam© |rom «JS parts of the hall aa^the inspector ♦old tha gathering' that this was the child's dails round of duties in a glorious country like Australia. " ' Waxing wrath as he meditated on ma experiences, Acting Inspector Bltoner «»► olared that " the way «ome peoplfc saorifioa their own'flesh and Wood for a few P% tr * pounds verges on savage brutality — ■ tf sentiment which was oheered to the echcß. Apart altogether from the question o« • regular attendance, Acting Inspector Blumer asserted— and his yremarfcs were generally endorsed by h» ooUeagueß-rt would be better for a child l to feat • , irtUe rather than to be cent to (school *» *all fasti asleep on the forms. "I We tea «£Pe£* ence,""he said in concluding, "wiflt tb* waifs of the city streets, <who have tna^x good, points, and enjoy at anyr&te some fmount of freedom but their lot » » , 'thing to be compared with the little irnita slaves that one meets in tho country d»trifctsr of this State."