Good With Their Hands

Te Ao Hou, December 1962, Page 27

Good With Their Hands Mr Watene, who has been Welfare Officer at the Company for six years, told us many interesting things about Maoris in freezing works. They manage well because they are particularly good at using their hands, and enjoy doing so; this capacity to enjoy their work, especially when they are in groups (a capacity which in general is probably more typical of Melvin King has made himself pretty cosy in his hostel room. Melvin comes from Taranaki, one of the many boys whose homes are outside Wellington.

Maoris than Pakehas), makes all the difference. Though they get on well with their Pakeha mates, they prefer on the whole to work in all Maori groups. They don't like detailed work, such as meat processing jobs, but are very good at the heavy work, like butchering and dressing. The expert teams of ‘tally men’ are 90 per cent Maori, simply because Maoris are usually better at this work than Pakehas. (Maoris don't like the cold, though, it seems; there are few of them in the freezing chambers, even though the pay is good there). In the last few years, Maori workers have been especially encouraged to take on responsible positions, and at present three out of fifteen supervisors are Maori, with seven more training for the job. This is quite different from the situation a few years ago, when Maoris had responsible jobs at the Works, and when things did not always go smoothly as regards the Maori employees there. The change in atmosphere which has occurred since then is due to a new management's intelligent interest in the welfare of their employees; one aspect of this is the especial attention which they have paid to Maori welfare, both as regards the hostel and in other respects. Much of the credit is certainly due to Mr Watene, who came to the Company in the first instance simply as its Welfare Officer, and only by chance found himself concentrating upon Maori problems. Mr Watene, who comes from Auckland (he used to be with Hellaby's there) has done a great deal to improve the situation at the Works. The Company is certainly benefiting from their new policy also; there hasn't been a single work stoppage at the Gear Meat Works in the past four years—and this is a pretty notable record.