Kaitangata and Slums.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 53, 15 March 1912, Page 12

Kaitangata and Slums.

By "THE VAC."

Daring the course of a recent debate in Kaitaugata between. Mr. E. J. Howard, of Christchurch, and a Dundee University student named Cornish, on the question, "Is compulsory military training in the best interests of tho DnininioTi?" all was going well with the "anti" side when Mr. Howard ''put his foot in it." His opponent had said that wo wore living in tho best- conntry, under tho best conditions, therefore it behoved the workers to becomo trained men, so as to stop tho Chines? from coining to bump ns oi'f theso islanda. Mr. Howard replied that h< , did not acknowledge that the workers had very much better conditions in ti-.V country titan in others; that ho h.'yer goon .13 many slums in Kaitangnta Ui.it day in proportion to tho population, and as bad, as in any other part of the world. "WhaVoh! You ought to have heard thorn yell I That cooked his case, and when tho vote was taken a hundred voted for military (■•raining and thirty against. Now, if there «ro not slams in Kaitangaia, ss generally understood, there arc miserably? tenement;"—-shacks tii;vt n:s.!;o ovo wonder how thoy m to survive a heavj' wind. Outside one of ihe pits thero's i\, row of the sharks leaning towards one another aa if tb«y

Wμ , )' w]iisixM-iii'4 -Kv-rets, <hip vith a list: Lo starboard, unoi I'.t'r with :i li*t to port; and j;o<irl. lamest, iiaid-uorki)! , .; mi'ii—iiicii who u,o into I heist , pits never knowiih. 1 ; if Lli-i'V will over see tho of <l;iy at.iaiii—-live in these, phncks, liroi d children in thcue shacks; and wlini a ■Socialist deninnds thai they .shall 1)0 riilitled to l.lio same standard iof dwelling as J.ord they I howl iuifl jeer and simrl and swear at It he Socialist instead of upon t-heir hind leirs and helping him to p>l these things. '|'||.' director*, iiiaiiawrs, dividend-drawc-is, do not live in these dismal duellings JN'o, it's the easy-geiod-iiaturod, loiiiifi, liaid-work-iny; toiler that is sulislied with them, and judicially Jic is an atiti-Sosh. and is afraid someone is coming; to steal his kennel I It takes him 30 years to pay the mortgage. an<l then lie finds the worms have eaten the house! Hut there's hope for Kaitatigala. The Socialist* are there, preaching the divine gospel of discontent, and sooner or later the workers will realise that as they produce the best, only the best should be good enough for ihem. One wonders why men are so blind, and we wander in the graveyard to moralise. We begin to read the inscriptions on the tombstones. What's this? Sacred to the memory of .John Smith, killed in the explosion in the Kaitangata mine. Underneath is tho injunction, "Bo ye also ready." The next one records that Hill Jonos was also killed in tho mine, and puts the query, "Where will you spend orornityr , " Then we learn that Jack Robinson died through an accident in tho Kaitangata mine, and underneath,, "Life is short!" Ah, well, it's hardly worth while for the men of Kaitangata to trouble alxmt tho things of this world. It's odds on that they won't bo here long anyway, so it's bettor for ihem to learn some musical instrument and get ready to join the heavenly band.