The Daily News TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24. TARANAKI CHILDREN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 24 September 1907, Page 2

The Daily News TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24. TARANAKI CHILDREN.

The ruU'vs of countries \vhi»vc the welfare of tlif childi'i/ii is .studied ma}' bo siiid to lmvf attuiiii'J a wisdom that will l>o as a bright light to I In* rest of tin' world. Also thov avo laying up a store of ben Hits for futurity that wilt unsure happiness and prosperity. A

nation is made or marred by the lip- | bringing of its rising generations. The sure road to dec-ay comes from luxury ami idleness. What are the most desirable conditions for child life from a . national and rational point of view? Fresh air, plain and nutritious food, occupation, combined with the cultivation of a sound niiud in a healthy body. The expansion of the Hritish Empire is the outcome of the natural litncss of its children to endure hardships, and overcome all obstacles. Indomitable pluck and energy have added territory ufti-r territory {o the British Empire.

I The hardy pioneers of civilization, trade and commerce h:ivc gone forth from the old land and carved out their fortunes in far distant countries. Their children hive been reared in the hard school of toil and danger. This has made then string, resourceful, and champions of the cause of freedom. To-day we see the result. In New Zealand we have abundant evidence of the splendid achievements of the pioneer settlers, and Taranaki, especially, has every reason to feel gratified with the splendid specimens of manhood and womanhood that have raised the province to the position it has attained.

Our present position Ims boon attained by muscular and brain power—the former being the dominant factor. Most of Ihe original settlers have finished their task and passed to the great beyond. Too little heed is now paid to the lessons implicated by their strenuous lives. If, however, there is one fact writ larger than another in the history of Taranaki it is that while carrying their lives in their hands the early settlers toiled unceasingly for their own and the common welfare. That they succeeded is apparent to everyone, and the blessings of peace and plenty now enjoyed are tile legacies inherited from their labors. One has only to look around anil take note of their descendants to become convinced that the open life and hard work have built up some of the finest specimens of manhood that any land can show.

We now and again hear the cry of "Child slavery ill Tarauaki." Sometimes an imaginative scribe pens heartrending word pictures of the woeful lot of the children on the dairy farms. Occasionally an jittempt is made in an illustrated paper to depict- this "dreadful scourge," but as it is impossible to photograph what does not exist the sensationmonger has to be content with showing half-a-dozen happy-faced, chubby youngsters gazing at the camera and forming the foreground to a cowbail. To apply the term "child slavery" to such liappv, healthy, well-fed and eared for little ones as are to be found at most of our dairy farms is cither attributable to a diseased brain or an overweening desire to discredit a prosperous district. Those who can speak from actual as to the lives of young children on dairy farms can truthfully testify that though the little ones learn to milk at an early age, they do not regard the occupation as work, but as something to be proud of._ It is only when they arrive at what is termed the awkward age that there is a tendency to regard the work as irksome.

Contrast the lives of the children on a dairy farm with those of their less fortunate brothers and sisters in the slums Of a big city. Here, let it be noted, the "child slavery" calumny has its birth and fostering in the very 'centres where slums exist. 1 heir lot is exceedingly sad and their outlook almost hopeless even in New Zealand. Yet it is far worse iu such cities as London, Paris, New York and elsewhere, and but for the noble rescue work that is fiercely grappling with the evil no one could tell where it would end. Take for instance such a work as Dr. Huvnardo's Homes, which have been the means, during the last quarter of a century, of rescuing over 03,11110 liovs and girls' nearly 20,000 of whom have been sent out to Canada and other colonies with phenomenal success.

Take iiji any publication devoted to works of charity among the submerged lentil, and it is astonishing to find the frequency of appeals for funds lor fresh nir for children ami lor emigration work. Tin.' latter lias Iktu found to lie the only effectual ans of reclaiming and recasting the lives of the outcast waifs and strays. The reason is that not only are the children removed from theil' squalid and evil surroundings, hut they obtain the essentials of fresh air, nourishing food, and above all—work. Store stress is placed on employment ill the fresh air than 011 anything else. Children get physically weary with work, but it is a wholesome, natural fatigue which helps to build up the system, and engenders a healthy appetite'as well as sound slumber. We suggest to anyone interested in the question of so-called "child slavery" that a complete answer to the charge would be found by merely noting the stamp of children forming an excursion party to the Breakwater and hailing from the dairying districts. It is on such an occasion as that when the charge of overwork might possibly be applied, for many of the brightfaced , stout-limbed youngsters have had to start their day at a very early hour in the morning. In fact, it is one of (he hardest days of their life. But their happiness is unmistakable, and that they thrive on their "hard work" is conclusively apparent.

Judged from the standpoint of an educational test, the children of the dairying districts certainly fall but little liehind the town children. 'This, too, in , the face of drawbacks such as almost impassable roads and long distances to traverse to the school. Allowing for irregular attendance caused, by bad weather and roads, the results attained by the pupils are distinctly good. Unfortunately one of the penalties attached to this attendance at school is (as in the towns) that the children are attacked by epidemics, buf, even so, thev have better recuperative power, consequent 011 their outdoor life and hardihood. Their help in milking a few cows each means ample food and clothing all the year round. But for this their parents would in many cases be unable to give their children all that was needful to enable theni to grow into useful citizens. Far better for these children to learn early in life the many benefits to lie derived from work, than to be acquiring the elements of a vagrant existence by wandering or playing in the streets of a town and becoming a nuisance to tin!,' neighbors. The children of our small dairy farmers have much to be thankful for, and are demonstrating the benefits to be derived from a life of useful activity. So long as New Zealand can produce generations of workers and those attuned to lives of utility from an early age, so much the surer will be her stability and immunity from decay.