LOADING THE FARMERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 86, 10 November 1939, Page 4

LOADING THE FARMERS

Sir, —After reading your report on the last meeting of the District Council of Primary Production I decided to pen these few lines as a farm hand's contribution to the colVeetive effort to solve the labour problem. It must be obvious to all that the real .cause of the problem lies in our • faulity economic and

monetary system which permits a large portion of the financial returns from the land to be diverted into unproductive channels thereby robbing the farms of essential manpower. I refer especially to the high interest rates which are definitely a major burden, and also to ' the large number of people who live on the (butter) fat of the land without anything tovrafas II s production. Having skimmed lightly 6ve'f the cause, alTovf We to review the effect i.e., a very real and dangerous position where there is a positive lack of man power on the farms. This has the inevitable result of throwing too much work on the farmer (who lias to put up with it) and his farm hand (who won't put up with it).

The solution in my opinion is:— Eliminate the high interest, and tell those who do not actually take an active part in the production or distribution of primary produce to get off the cow's back. The result would be an enormous surplus of money with which could be bought more units of labour thus answering increased production without the need for putting women or children in the sheds or expecting one man to do the work of two.

In my opinion no farmer should be allowed to pay more than the/ award wage, beacuse that penalises the farmer who is struggling, and also because it encourages the lowest form of blackmail and that is, exploiting a shortage.

Finally I would suggest that our District Councili keep clear of any political issues. The farm labour problem has existed for many years regardless of Governments and I well remember when the Government of that other day was asked to close the ten shillings a week relief camp because they Avere competing with the farmer for labour. Yours etc., W. OSBORNE. Awakeri. 6/1 1/39.