COMMONWEALTH NOTES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13790, 23 October 1908, Page 3

COMMONWEALTH NOTES.

(By F.H.)

CHILD SLAVERY IN NEW yOUTH WALES.

It is a long call from the day Tom Hood wrote the "Song of the Shirt in ()< '.->W IDOB. But just to show lion ' '< i. n.. i- v tin. is tlit same all tho world ■! i)m days of Abraham to now. 1 • ' ■ i • lor. Association of New South ! ' >' - lias ihrown upon the canvas some 1 11 in nig pictures ol white child slavery. I \\" iinu it chiefly in tho dairying in- | dust" Here the evidence shows that child' n eight years of age have had to gi" y up tlieir scholastic duties. eleHKHLary as they may be, and go to work on tho farm like galle} 1 slaves, which rudely shocks the feelings of normally constituted persons. We aro told that these puny children — for they, could not be otherwise — are compelled to do w i tli four hours' sleep out of the twenty-four. Play and recreation they havo none. When they go to school it is lor an hour to snatch a few rudimentary essentials in the three it's. w ith no heart or strength to accomplish much, and the children's parents with less concern are only too ready to keep them at home to labour like hired servants, wrecking liojii.h and constitution, \< ith its ine\hable consequences upon luturo generations. We are told -oh, how ghastly .'—that these little .mites, when the short play-hour comes roifnd, throw themselves down in the open paddocks, where tirod nature plays its part and sleep conies as the one and only solace. Awakened, tliey wearily drag themselves into the schoolroom _ to go through tho formality oi learning lessons. Why, the very swine which they go home to feed have a para- ; disc in comparison. To think that we I live in such an enlightened age, and I such abuses of nature are rampant , throughout tho country, is an awful disgrace. The responsibility rests upon .someone. Not the children, certainly. Then whom? The parents not a little. Tho Government a good deal. Legislation has stopped such oppression in the factories, and why not on the farm 'r Do you say the parents must work their children in this degeneracy to make the farm pay?' Then I say such parents are in the wrong niche in life. Thousands of farmers and dairymen have made Iheir undertakings pay; if so, why Mich misfits, who cannot at least make a living without this white slavery :J: J Far better had their children never been born than to live and endure the hardships which I have here merely outlined. The sweetness of childhood, the joy of living, the playground of life, the happy, glad, arid winsome faces of those whose lives should be yet to live, is all revealed in the revelations that should shame even "the most callous man or woman. There nre no extenuating circumstances, no ; pleadings in such cases. A child's life ' is the most precious of pearls, and to ] read of the depravity of human beings ' as told before the Teachers' Association ' should shake the very foundations of «ociety and stir the Government into J immediate action to legislate for the : | preservation of child life. ' THE SYDNEY V.M.C.A. } This institution is a power for good, ,, r i and its work on undenominational lines i is eulogised throughout the city. It I has a membership of 1300, and is the i most modern institution of its sort any- a I whero in Australia. I I SOCIAL REFORM! ] Quite unpretentiously the Premier of 8 New South "Wales brought Sown to the House the other night a Bill entitled the "Police Offences Bill." Externally it appeared tho most harmless and inoffensive of bilfs, but as the Premier opened out on his subject it was soon seen to contain some drastic measures, and members did not caro to pass the first reading on the voices, as there was a good deal in the Bill which required thinking out to see if its provisions were palatable to their constituents. Making the community moral by persuasions is a difficult undertaking. an«l frequently fails in its efforts, so malting them moral by legislation is the alternativej and thus it comes about that the new Bill is quite a model of good things and shows that Mr Wade, the Premier, has the uplifting of mankind at heart. Amongst other matters at once commendable it deals with opium-smoking. At present opium can only be imported and distributed for medicinal purposes, but once in the land .md p man gets possession of it. N.i '.n\ cm «'oiitrol the operations of ■ jiiii.ii i ,)tort and smokers. The Bill > ill nr.iy allow opium to be sold by UV i.i'^n holding a certificate for dealit'g mi poisons. No one is allowed to . usu >» for smoking or eating. No person it allowed to keep opium dens or permit its use in any form under very lovfif penalties. Strange to say, the - Chinese, whilst the chief offenders, are the strongest in opposition to its use. ' There is an amendment to the Va#raucy Act to deal finally with such things as shilling sweeps and every form of lottery for money. It will stop the selling of sweep tickets. TJte totalisator will be a prohibited machine either on the racecourse or anywhere else. Spielers are not forgotten in the Bill. If they are discovered playing j any of their tricks or sleight-of-hand business which, in the opinion of the I Justice, is considered cheating, they come unto judgment, nnd the punishment is odds on that the offender will ■* wot attempt to repea: the offence. Another clause deals with those persons arrested under the Vagrancy Act, such C as spielers who under existing laws obtain bail and a loan from some friends. He then goes back to Court to answer ] his bail, and the money produced; he is not in the eyes of the law a vagrant, and the charge falls through. In the new Act possession of money or pro- p perty is not a defence. Another point is in regard to time payments. Under the present lnw, if a person does not keep his contract faithfully he may be sued and the goods returned, though pei'haps nineteen-twentieths of the whole amount.mnv have beep paid. The new Bill gives discretion to the Magistrate where, through misfortune, the person is prevented from complyina with tho contract. Last New Year 1 ;; Eve there was an unseemly disturbance i in Sydney owing to a lot of hoodlums c narading the thoroughfares, letting off f letonator sticks and explosives of dif- -t ferent kinds. Such acts for tho future \ bring n penalty of £2. '