CHILD SLAVERY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11122, 9 November 1907, Page 7

CHILD SLAVERY.

CHIEF JUSTICE'S REMARKS SUPPORTED.

A £50 CHALLENGE.

"So far from the position being exaggerated, the Cliief Justice has quite understated it," said Air J. P. Murphy to a. Herald reporter in regard to the subject of child shivery in Taranaki. "I was twelve years there, from the very beginning of the industry, and went all through the work from a. position of youth at 15s a week to a manager." Mr Murphy is licensee of the Tolaga Bay hotel. It is two years since he was engaged in dairy farming at Taranaki, but he holds that tlie tendency has been for matters to become Worse in the interim. "I am volunteering information," he continued, "for ii know of my own experience what the poor little children in Taranaki have to put up with, and I will give £50 to the Hospital if anyone can prove what I say is not correct. I started from the bottom rung of the ladder, from scratch, so to speak, working for 15s a week — I was then between 18 and 19— and milked my 40 cows night and morning. For two years Mrs Murphy and I each did our 36 cows. I was not the only one doing it, families all around milking in proportion, tiny girls with petticoats up to their knees and slush nearly up to their hips, had to keep at it;" Mr Murphy did not allude so much to his own experience as to those of the girls and boys. "We used to employ little children residing in the neighborhood at 5s and 6s a week," he continued. "The parents of many had little farms - of their own ; they could not afford to keep them all the time and let them out— l ant talking now, of the centre of Opunake— the wages being 6s a week, and they were allowed to go to school. They have to be out alt 4 in the morning, and every. cow had to be out of the yard by B.3o; 'then school at 9 o'clock. Each child h{£d to milk as many as he or she could. A. child of eight year s of .age- was expected to milk at least ten- cows *morning and evening. If they could not manage that they would not 1 be employed. On Saturday they had to work all day at whatever jobs I might set them, andl on Sundays the work had to be done as on other days*. '.Li. the'afternoons'.they started at 3.30 o'clock, having to get out of school half an hour sooner tlian other:' children, and they knocked off at 6 o'clrock ; and ours was an', early farm*. The ordinary 'cockatoo,' who only sent milk once a day to the factory, would not finish until later, doing other work until after, we would start.. Ours was an up-to-date farm, one of the best in the district, and. the conditions would be wor^e on* the average farm. "I have seen the pooiv little girls come dripping with wet, and have, allowed tliem to stand byV /The owner coming, in and seeing them not milking lias asked the reason why. I replied that they were not well, and was instructed' to sack them. yThe owner said,* 'What is the good of their being there?' I ,haye often sent them away because I could not stand seeing them there." * ' : "It is all very Well for Mr Okey, Mi* Symes, . and other members of Parliament to make light of the condition of .things, and contradict what the- Cliief Justice has said. Mr Okey would naturally contradict these statements ; being in a big way himself the troubles of the smaller men with farms on shares may not worry liim." Mr Murphy went on to . give :spme specific instances to show how badly some men milking on shares, fared,' although the owners of the property made a good profit out of it. He went on- to explain the system. A man got 200 acres carrying 60 cows. From the gross income, without calves and pigs, 35 per cent was paid, or 40 per cent., with no allowance tor calves and' pigsV "Only big families," Mr Murphy proceeded, '"can" undertake this with any prospect of making it pay, and he has to compel every cnild who pah pull a teat to set to work, for he cannot afford to pay for any outside labor." ' "Is that system general?" the reporter asked. y. , „ .;.,,-'. "lam quite safe in saying that 50 per cent of the milk sent to the factories in Taranaki is obtained on that principle. It is. wpEse now because these people have not been able to make headway. No, there is little or no hojie of their acquiring prpperties oi their own;* they have absolutely no chance. I will give you an instance. When I lived in laraliaki 12 years ago, a man had 400 cows, which his wife and family assisted him to milk; he had brought his family from the south. When I left he was still at the milking. A& the. girfe and boys grew up, the former make for town* and the boys' go bushfelling or ta,ke anything else rather tlian dairying; tlie father and 1 mother being unable to bear the- expense of keeping tliem , prbperly at the milking, and the old' people and younger children have to keep at it. It is all veiy well for the land owners to try and contradict the existence of such a state of slavery, for they do well out, .of it, but in the interests of the children 1 someone should' speak out. It is in that behalf alone I now volunteer^any statement; I have no feeling. against;' my former employees or anyone connected with the dairying, y- ' , -V '/jk' "The case of the man with:6o : cows on 200 acres is not even a fairy representation of the position. You oooafiionally hear of a tiprtop herd that willy turn in from' £9. I hadi one, but was; nearly 12 years selecting them. A selected herd of 60 cows on IdOD acres might return. £9 apiece, but the man who goes on shares has nothing to do with the fcielectioh. He may have to take 40, heifers just coming in ; and has to break them all in. The average herd would yield £7 10s. A herd ot" 15 or 20 might '. return £10 or £11. Out of this total about £180 would come to the man, and family for all their work." "Will nob milking machines improve the conditions?" "Not for the small people, though it may for those in a larger way. Before I left milking, machines that were tried were discarded in face of the cheap child labor, but they are meeting M-ith more success now. But like a man. in any tied business, the small farmer would not be able to raise tlie money to buy the machines. The big men will get them if they are a success, and run the children off the farms. Before that children who had reached the age of being able to milk were considered a good asset, and the man who married a, widow with children, that could be kept at the milking was considered to have a decided advantage. "To show you the hours they work I can mention one family. Half-past 2 in the morning usually saw me out of bed, but a poor little beggar who lived near by, and who was under 14 years of age, was often out before 2.30." Mr Murphy gave a personal .experience. When he started as manager he was £30 or £40 in debt. He saved all he could, und by the end of two 3*cars had paid liis debts and was £ICO to the good. "I handed this to , from whom I got 70 cows, which left me £559 in debt. On my agreement I -was to pay 8 per cent, and it was to be deducted each month ; I was to supply the factory, of course. My understanding was Unit the principal wjas being reduced gradually, and I went on, not getting a balancing up for two years. I had luck in regard to an entire liorse, and wanted to square off the balance, when I found that instead of the principal being reduced I had been reckoned as paying 10 per cent interest from the first of each month. 1 reckon that at that rate I had been paying 60 per cent, interest. "Yes, the Chief Justice's remarks were understated. I know of cases where the children would have to get theii' eyes douched with cold water in order to enable them to keep awake. I only volunteer this information in the hope that something will be done to alleviate the sufferings of these little children. It breaks one up to hear a man like Mr Okey standing up in Parliament, and say- j ing that what the Cliief Justice condemned does not exist. I know it does, and, as I liave said, will give £50 to the Hospital if anyone can prove that I am . wrong." v "Yes," added Mr J. Sheridan, who was standing by, "and I will guarantee ihe money is forthcoming- if anyone can substantiate a claim to it." j Questioned as to whether he thought j an inquiry would elicit the facts set out,

Mr 'Murphy said he could go to hundreds who would bear him out in what he said, but it -would not be. a fair position in which to place many people who were dependent on the people most interested ia making out that the statement was not true. "I guarantee there are scores of the smaller people who will endorse every word .1 have said. A man would be better off with 7s or 8s a day than at dairying under such conditions. The only thing tliat can be said* in favor pf it is that it helps to keep a family together in the home, up to a certain age." Mr Murphy mentioned names and incidents in support of what he had said as to the hardships inflicted on smaller people engaged, in dairying in Taranaki, and added that the versions of those who were making big money out of the toil of those taking milking on shares should not be accepted as impartial evidence, for the Chief Justice had put the thing mildly.;