SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10273, 7 May 1919, Page 6

SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS

SHOCXIN3 CONDIT.OfJS THE WORKERS' LOT ON BIG STATIONS. l'lain talking, as shearers know it, was indulged in by a deputation from the A.P.U. Conference which waited 011 the Acting-Minister for Labour, tho Ho.n. V,". H. Herries, yesterday. Tho deputation was introduced by Mr B. Scrapie, M.P., who said that tho purpose of meeting the Minister was to lay before him some long-standing grievances, tho chief of which was accommodation. Mr \ Cook, president of the. conference, began the long list of addresses. "Ever since your Government has been in power," he said, "deputations have repoutotfv waited on you from my union and stressed tho necessity for some effective legislation in regard to ■accommodation. .What'my union wants is a complete alteration m the provisions made respecting accommodation for shearers." Bettor sleeping quarters "were- needed, better bathing facilities, and so on. If they did not get these things it was nsoless the d'epartcnt sending inspectors through t" Q countrv. During tho epidemic a certain doctor had visited some of the sick sh-arers at the Gisborne station!, and he had said that their living quarters were not fid to tie a dog in. He knew of a station at Tolago Bay where 12 •workers had one hut of 18ft by 12ft to live in. Tho hut was not lmc-d, there was no separate accommodation for females, and the cook slept in the cookshop. , The Minister: They are native shearBrs? .' ' Mr Cook: Yes. At another station there were onlv nine bunks for 20 workers, there were no ends to , the building, no floor, no windows, the paco was alive with vermin, and there were no eating or cooking utensils except a couple of kerosene tins and buckets. He had reported some Gisborne sheds to the department and an inspector who was sent up had gone over the district in two weeks, lng that there were 500 sheds in the dfstrict. "SICK AND TIR-ED OF COMING HERE."' "I want you to clearly understand," continued Mr Cook, "that my organisation has got sick and tired of. coming here to you pleading for something to be done "for these workers. The conditions are a disgrace and something ihould be done in tho interests'of humanity. Wo don't want to be fed tip with promises any longer." Mr Katene, who had been a member of a committee which had worked among the Hawke's Bay Maoris during the epidemic, said that on his early ■visits he found that not one Maori at •the pas was down with the disease..A pakeha inspector whom he had taken with him on some of his visits said that he was surprised to find the Maori pas superior to a good many pakeha kaingas. He had afterwards visited the shearing sheds and found the epidemic rampant there, and it was the sick Maoris' who had been taken home r rom the shearing stations who had introduced the disease to the pas. He mentioned these things to show that tho Maoris had not contracted the epidemic at their pas, but ,at the shearing sheds on account of the bad accommodation.

THE ACT OBSOLETE. Mr ..J. Tbwnsend, Wanganui, said that the present- Accommodation Act was obsolete, and they wanted something on the line of a ibill introduced by Mr W. A. Veitch. That hill was very good so far as it went, but in Queensland there -was an Act which covered all classes of country workers. 1 In Now Zealand the inspection was" faulty. In some cases where they had reported places as being, in their opinion, rough and disgusting, the inspector had reported them as fit for human beings to live in. About twenty-seven miles out of Wanganui there was a station ou which and whites nad refused to shear because the accommodation wa3 disgusting, and yet one of the chief inspectors for the department had reported that it was fit to live in. At some places there \rere no sanitary arrangements, and when he entered the diningroom at a station near Hunterville he found Maori men md their wives sleeping in the corners. it a Turakina shed manure and other atuff was thrown out of the shearers' quarters just in' time for the men to he put in. In the Turakina Valley one sf the most striking cases was to bo found. The homestead was one of the most beautiful in the valley, and foi the men who made the money for the stationownor a hovel of two rooms was provided. While he was there during the epidemic a Maori woman died, and another died later. He understood that the department had arranged for a man to go round inspecting the jhods this year, but one man could not do all the work there was to be done. ' "It is hardly a fair thing," he added, "for us to have to come hero every year, cap in 'hand,-to ask you to do something for us. And it is we"i .hat you should know that wo havo communications from the people we represent, saying that if something is not dona tboy will take the matter in their own hands. The only way in which some of these places can be remodelled is with a fire-stick. It is rather a hard thing to say that wo demand anything, bub afier the deputations which have met you and Mr Massey, -ivo must say that wo demand something better." "The administration of the aepartment is lax," said Mr O. E. Baldwin, Ohristchurch, "and very often we feel that it is only waste of time going to any of your official"* —from the top to tho bottom, including yourloif. I am going to be plain; T am not going to split straws." Necessity forced the men to go out and sleep in the hovels provided. He knew a man who had been fined three times, and that man told him ho would be a. fool to alter hii accommodation when he could get but of it at lOs'a year. A voice: That is the fine? Mr Baldwin: Yes. In one case, I brieve, it was a shilling. What, asked Mr Baldwin, would be tho mortality in these places if dis-esse broke out? There would be nothing in Franco to compare with it. "Xou "passed an Act, but you hare never had the courage to put the regulations into force. If you come out again and Eet acquitted I hopo you will do something. If you hare not the courage, jou should varaouse ibo ranch and pive somebody else a chance. Mr R. Templeton, Hawke's Bay .said that in sixteen or seventeen years' experience as a shoarer he had had the

pleasure of seeing only one bathroom provided for the men; He had no ticcd-that the "small" 'man g«ve reasonable accommodation, but as to the squatter, he was quite sure an up-to-date farmer, would not allow his pigs to live in the men's quarter? becaVc of the. danger to their health. The squatters should be made, to realise their moral duties; but then, squatters had no morals—they only lived £ov gain. , . ~ Mr A. McLeod, Wairarapa, looked on tho department as a mere i'ornialitv. Ho wished to recall some promises made by Mr Massey to a deputation in 1«12. . Mr. Massey aslced tor some particulars, and tho speaiter (Mr McLeod) named the station oi a Dig landowner who was a member of Mr Massey's party in the House for some years—a Hawke's Bay man. A voice: He is coming out to assist the workers again! (Laughter.) Mr McLeod mentioned another big place, whero, ho said, tho conditions had been very bad; and no improvement had been made. The Minister: Oh, yes.

Mr McLeod: Not at tho one 1 am speaking of. The Minister: Perhaps they complied with tho Act. Mr McLeod: Well, that does not say much for the Act.

NOT FIT FOR DUMB ANIMALS. From the North Cape to tho lltuif, according to Mr D. J. Biair (Otago;, not 5 per cent, of tile accommodation ivas ht for even a, dumb annual to live m. At one big station on iho East Coast of tnis island the shearers were, huddled togetner like a lot of dogs. There must be something wrong when the Government would not concede sonio little thing to the workers. He hoped the Minister would assist Mr v citch. to got tis Bill through. "Yes. sir,", began Mr A. J. Middlemas (Southland), "1, have the honour to again come before you. 1 don't know, however, whether I should call it an. honour. ;You. have failed in your duty, and .when I return to my district, 1 will place the matter before my people and see that you get none of our support. Apart from this, 1 endorse the. remarks of the other speakers.''.... . .... Mr J Mee~ (Otago).said thafa it was a shamo. that. the. improvements sought had not been. made. The,shearers did not want palaces, but .reasonable accommodation.

Mr 'Koto Matete drew [attention to the bad accommodation at one Bast Coast station. He was there at epidemic time. One hand died on the place, and throe who were sen;, to hospical .died.;. worpen slept in the same , oompartment. [ Yerniin annoyed tue during sleep-time;, there were fleu3 big enough to cany the Minister. • ■ Mr O GrayucKer. general secretary or the A.P.U., said that the facts piaced before the Minister must have made it clear to him Mat the . ij'eed for improvement was great. • . The Minister: Well, that is bo far as the.-Act;is. ewioemed..- • ■ ~ 31r Grayudler: Then the Act Bhould have been amended. What -was wanted was a complete amendment of the Act to provide proper sleeping quarters, bathing facilities, and sanitary arrangements. Such, was but a reasonable request'/The" tfalue" of cleanliness had been proved during the"epidemic. Ninetyhve per cent, of the Maoris who contracted influenza got it on the shearing stations, and the scandalous conditions oh'thebig'Stiatidnain Hawke's Bay and at Tologa Bay'were largely responsible tor the spread of the epidemic in those districts. The accommodation provided for the animals which an employer owned than that provided for tie shearers. The deputation nsked that the-Government should take Mr Voitch's billover as a Government measure, put it into operation, and put the administration of jt into the hands

of the A.P.TJ., in conjunction with the department. Then the grievances would, after a while, disappear. If this were not done, tho workers would continue "belting away at the matter," and,' also, woula change the Government.' - A REVELATION. ■"Mr"P. Fraser, M.P., said that what he had heard at the deputation was a revelation" to him. It was awful to contemplate that' after nearly five years of war, during which the landowners had made extraordinary profits, conditions were as revealed. He asked the Minister to promise to support Mr Veitch's bill. This was more than a matter of politics; it was a matter concerning human health. He was astonished to hear that men and women were herded together and almost imagined lie had been listening to a story of the treatment of someone taken prisoner by the Germans. These were disgraceful.conditions y for thp men whoso bram and muscle produced the wealth for the big station-holders. The question of housing rural workers was quite as important as the terrible problem of housing the people of the cities. Surely we had reached a stage when the ordinary decencies of »lif e should be placed within the reach of everyone. Mr R. Semplo, M.P., said that while the Minister might disagree with the deputation, he must appreciate tho candour of the speakers.. The question before him was not one of politics, but of "human justice, to men who did some of the hard work. It was merely a reasonable request for the men who produced tho dividends for! the sheep kings and the cattle kings. One of tho causes of the present discontent was' the miserable life the workers had to lead. He trusted that the words of tho deputation had penetrated tho Minister's soul and that ho would do something to rectify their wrongs. Tho Minister remarked that these deputations" always IsOeriied to come before him when Mr Massey, for whom he was acting, was "away. A member of the' deputation: Mr Massey is never homo I ■ ' Tho Minister agreed that from the point of view of the men;' the Act did not go far enough. The AcVonly said that the owner was to provide a certain amount of nir space.

Mr Baldwin: But you knew that seren years ago, didn't you ? Mr Herries: Yes. Mr" Baldwin: Woll, what hare you done in the meantime? >

Mr Herries: If Mr Massey promises he will support Mr Veitch's bill, he will no doubt do so.

Ono of the deputation: I will bet you a new hat ho doesn't. Mr Herries said that during tho war no party legislation could.be introduced, but the war was now clear. # A member of tho deputation: Will you support Mr Veitch's bill? Mr Herries.: I bnve not seen it, but I will say that the Act does not go far enourii and that tho air spa co is not sufficient. ... I am not tho Minister for Labour, but I will put these matters heforo Mr Massey. Mr Fraser: And you will urge him .to make amendments? Mr Herries:.! certainly will. I will tell him it is a good political move to do so.