BOYS’ EARLY MORNING WORK

Taranaki Daily News, 21 August 1930, Page 13

BOYS’ EARLY MORNING WORK

ONE FOUND ASLEEP IN SCHOOL. INQUIRIES IN WELLINGTON. By Telegraph.—. Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The employment of school children in the early hdurs of the morning before attending school was brought to the notice of the Wellington Education Board to-day. when it was stated that boys were up as early as 2 o’clock in the morning to go on milk rounds, and in consequence had been found asleep at their desks at school. It was further affirmed that the practice existed in many places in New Zealand ‘and was not peculiar to Wellington. Inquiries are to be pursued. An official report upon visits to schools had been made in committee and it was during the amplification of that report that the discussion arose, the chairman agreeing to the publication of the general discussion. A visit had been made to a school in the suburbs and- a brief ■ talk given to the children in the upper standards. It was noticed that one boy went to sleep at his desk. The visitor remarked to the boy as he went away, “You are tired, aren’t you?’’ “Yes,” replied the boy, “I have been up since two o’clock this morning” Another boy>sitting close by followed by remarking, “Yes, and I was up at half-past 2.” Further inquiries revealed that the boys were employed in the early hours on a milk round and had done four or five hours’ work before going to school.