OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 February 1940, Page 7

OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS

FARM WORKERS’ HOLIDAYS (To the Editor.) *■' Sir. —I have been asked by severa ' mates if you. through your valuable columns, would answer the following question: What holidays per year is r "farm worker or station hand entitled '■/to after he has been engaged on one ’ farm for one year or over; also wha( • are the statutory holidays which he is 13 entitled to? If you would answei ’ these questions we should greatly ap- ■ preciate same. —Yours, etc., FARM HAND. - Featherston. February 7. According to the provisions of tly • Agricultural Workers' Act, 1936, agri--1 cultural and pastoral workers on farms y and stations are allowed, on the com- ’• pletion of twelve months' service, ; ■ total of eighteen days’ holiday (on full • money-wage paid) to be given at the " convenience of the employer. If the '■ period of employment is less than r twelve months but more than three ■ ' months the worker is entitled on the termination of his employment to a • proportion of the annual holidays ac» cording to the length of service per- ‘ formed. Every agricultural worker I- who is employed on a dairy farm foi s not less than lour weeks continuously is allowed a holiday of not less than ■ seven days in the aggregate for even ■ twelve weeks of employment and a holiday of a proportionate part of a week for every broken period of employment. The holidays are to be allowed at such time or times as the employer thinks fit but so that not less than 28 days in the aggregate are allowed during each year of employment and in the event of the termination ol 13 the employment of a worker all holi- . days to which he is then entitled are 1 to be allowed to him forthwith. If any 1 agricultural worker is allowed a halfholiday from noon for the remaindei of the day on one day in each week t of his employment, it is sufficient if 3 he is allowed an additional holiday of 3 not less than fourteen days in the aggregate during each year of employment and a holiday of a proportionate ■ part of a fortnight for every part of- a year of employment. Any agricultural 3 worker employed on a dairy farm may 3 agree with his employer to be allowed 1 leave from work between milkings on 1 one day in each week of his einploy- ' ment instead of being allowed a half- ' holiday and if such leave is allowed ’ it is deemed to be equivalent to a halfholiday. MAORI EDUCATION r (To the Editor.) Sir,—lt is very satisfactory that ■ Archdeacon E. J. Rich should set out ! the position of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trust in your columns; no I such official statement has previously ■ been made in the Press of the Wairarapa. In the opening paragraph the Archdeacon has come straight to the real ■ point at issue, with a broad hint that it is no business of outsiders. Summed ■ up, ,the position is claimed to be as follows: — 1. The Trust is a Church of England one. 2. After the fire at Hikurangi, it was found that funds were insufficient for erection and College expenses. 3. Printed reports and audited statements are published annually. 4. Proposals for a hostel were found inconsistent with the Trust. 57“ Power to grant scholarships tenable outside the Wairarapa has yet to be secured. 6. The advantage of education at schools such as Te Ante and Hukarere is that Wairarapa Maoris would meet representatives from other parts of the Dominion. Many of these claims are open to challenge. Ejrst of all, if the claim can be established that this Trust belongs to the Church of England, no more need be said; this should be first examined. When the properties at Papawai and Akura were originally set aside by the Maori owners in 1853 for the education of “the children of all races,” organised settlement had not begun and they were obviously advised by .some European (in this case Sir George Grey). There was then no sys-

tem of State education in New Zealand (or indeed in England) and the Church was a leading authority, so that in’ making the Church of England the Trustee, a very usual course was followed. with the proviso that no child should be barred on the score of religious belief. Will the Archdeacon inform us what funds .from the Church of England have been contributed to enable this trust to be now claimed as their own'.’ It would be as logical to say that the T. G. Macarthy Trust* belongs to the Public Trust because that institution) administers it. If the trust is not the! property of the Church, what is the procedure necessary to secure a copy of the annual report and balance sheet” Next, it is evident that amendment of the Trust deed is required for' the Hostel proposal or for the Scholarship proposal. The suggestion for Hostel contemplated lands and buildings supplied in the Wairarapa without encroachment on the funds of the trust, which would control the property on peppercorn rental, conditional on the education it-

self being given at a State secondary school, where co-education is given. - The State, subject to certain conditions, offers this secondary education free, and it is reasonable to expect that if the trust was not called on to supply school or school staff, more pupils would receive benefit and the Superintendent (freed from teaching) would

have a wider radius of influence. The great; benefit to the Maori race of coeducation with Europeans of their own age and within their own district is obvious.

Just why legislation is sought for the scholarships system, which compels a few favoured pupils to leave their own district and be educated as a race separated from the European, instead ot exploring local possibilities, is hard to understand unless Te Ante and Hukarere are in need of these funds and

there is no other way of securing them. -It is stated on good authority that the scholarships tenable at Te Aute were for £l2O per year. Advertisements for

other and somewhat similar schools give the inclusive charges at £6o'to £75 per annum. The present proposals do not appear to give great consideration to the “children of all races” mentioned in the Trust deed and savour strongly of Church patronage; the broad issue is that here, in Wairarapa. lack of appreciation by Maori parents of the value of secondary education, together with transport difficulties for pupils in scattered Maori settlements, is denying this form of education to Maori child-

ren, and without it they cannot be expected to take their proper place in the community. This fund of £lOOO per year, properly applied, should do something to relieve this position, but is now to be wholly spent outside the district at denominational schools, virtually claiming that education is not available within the district. — I am. etc.. FRED. C. DANIELL. Masterton, February 9.