MR J. A. HANAN, M.P., INTERVIEWED.

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 10

MR J. A. HANAN, M.P., INTERVIEWED.

CHILD SLAVERY IN TARANAEX NO FOUNDATION IN FACT. Mr J. A. Hanan, M.P. for InvercaTgill, who, owing to the illness of one of his children a t New Plymouth, has had an enforced stay in the North Island for several weeks, passed through Dunedin last week on hie way to Invercargill. During his sojourn in the chief dairying district of the Dominion Mr Hanan made it his business to go out into the country, and, on his own account, make inquiries into the frequently-iterated charges of child slavery in connection with the dairy industry as carried on in. Taranaki. It may be mentioned that last session Mr Hanan was chairman of the Education Committee of the House of Representatives, and was, therefore, cognisant of ail the statements that have been, put forward regarding the detrimental effects the work entailed in dairying has on the children of dairy farmers. With the view of eliciting the result in his own mind of his inquiries, a. reporter of tfee Otago Oiwlj- Xlmea waited on Mr Hanan on Tuesday night, and was courteously accorded an interview? "As a result of my 6tay in Taranaki and of my observations and inquiries," said, the member for Invercargill, " I am bound" to say that the allegations regarding child slavery are exaggerated. Instances of the undue use of children in the working of dairy farms are to be found here and there, but, as a whole, there is nothing to justify the strong statements that have been made regarding the ill-effects attending the employment of young people in the dairying industry. Generally speaking, the many children whom I saw presented, as healthy and robust an appearance as any to be found in the Dominion. It is true that the work does tell on some of the youngsters, and cases could be cited oif young children being mentally tired during school hours, but as regards the elder children no injurious effects could be noticed." "I would say this," added Mr Hanan, " that the children of Taranaki do not have the same play, nor do they enter into games as strenuously, as children attending town schools." Mr Hanan went on to say that the early rising necessitated ' by the dairying industry had certain health- | ful effeots, and urged that the healthiest I boys at work in London were those engaged in delivering newspapers, whilst the unhealthiest were those engaged in hairdressing saloons. The natural inference to be drawn from this was that early rising I and open-air work had a greater tendency towards laying a. foundation for a strong constitution, which was the neoessary basis for a healthy mental development, than late rising and less arduous daily routine. Summed up, Mr -Hanan, after a careful sorutiny of the dairy industry as carried on in Taranaki, is of opinion that the work entailed on the young children of dairy farmers is not prejudical to the best interests of those children. In fact, he came away from Taranaki with a different opinion . frpm that which he had been led to form from the statements which had been made by those whom he previously ■ presumed were fully informed of the facts regarding the dairying distriots. Questioned with to the feeling in the north " on the- recent land legislation of Parliament, Mr Hanan said that the j question was very little discussed. Ap- ' parently the question of the hour was the ' Gaming and Lotteries Act, and more attention seemed to be paid to the, possible fate of the bookmaker than to the allimpprtant matter of land tenures. From what he gathered from conversations, Mr Hanan is satisfied that in the near future the question of no-license will assume in the North Island a far more important bearing 'than it has ever done in the past. In conclusion, Mr Hanan said that he returned more than ever impressed with the fact that_ Invercargill was one of the most progressive and financially-solid municipalities in New Zealand. During his stay in the North Island, he had resided for longer op shorter periods in Napier, Palmerston North, Wanganui, and 'New Plymouth, which were admittedly the- leading towns of the north, outsida of Wellington and Auckland, and setting aside his natural predilection for hi 3 own town,~he had no hesitation in saying that, compared with the North Island towns mentioned, from an architectural point of view and also from that of the apparent^ amount of business being done, Invercargill easily occupied" the premier position.