POSITION OF STEWART ISLAND.

Southland Times, Issue 23001, 22 September 1936, Page 5

POSITION OF STEWART ISLAND.

To the Editor.

Sir,—The poignant cry from the Stewart Island fishermen who are pleading with the Government to save them from starvation would be more moving if many people on the mainland were not very well aware of the amount of sympathy which they really deserve. It is frequently unjust to generalize, and I am prepared to admit there may be necessitous cases at the island whose relief comes within the scope of the relief authorities. But if it is true that a large part of the population of Stewart Island is virtually destitute I would say the fault lies with the Islanders themselves. The fishing industry is not in the parlous state which the Stewart Islanders declare. There has been a ready market for the catches and the season has proved profitable for those fishermen who applied themselves to their work. The trouble is that many of those men now domiciled at Stewart Island are fair-weather fishermen who prefer to loaf around the Bay when condition are reasonably suitable for going out after fish. Talk of their hardships no doubt has occupied their time quite pleasantly, but most unprofitably, while the season slipped away. The contstruction of the road to Mason’s Bay must have provided another favourite topic of conversation during the idle months. This proposal, for an uneconomic and unnecessary work, can be dismissed as merely foolish.

One is surprised that it is sponsored by some Stewart Islanders whom one would have regarded as responsible persons. If the Government does decide to spend money at Stewart Island would not the construction of an aerodrome be a more sensible (and less costly) scheme? Or the development of a seaplane service? The deficiencies of the present steamer service are well known, and most considerably affect the volume of the tourist traffic, while it may be anticipated with confidence that an air service will be a development of the near future. Preparation for this would be wise and far-sighted. But what I would suggest as necessary is that before relief allocations are considered fo • Stewart Island a most careful inquiry should be made into the capacity and willingness of the dole-seekers to help themselves. The purpose of unemployment taxation is not to provide a gratuity for the indolent. There is no justification for the complaints that Stewart Island is a starvation territory. Such assertions are the worst advertisement for a part of the province which the Southland League and the tourist authorities are endeavouring to popularize with visitors and the poorest testimonials to the spirit of Stewart Island residents. To give encouragement to some professional work-dodgers at this beautiful resort would be tragic as well from the provincial point of view as from that of the Islanders themselves.— Yours, etc.,

TREEFERN. Invercargill, September 21, 1936.