THE FARM LABOURERS' DISPUTE

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13008, 9 January 1908, Page 9

THE FARM LABOURERS' DISPUTE

• PXTRTHER EY7DENTE AT GERALDINE.

The Conciliation Board resumed its at Geraldine at 10 o'clock yes- ;. ».' terday morning, when the witness A. j. Hutt was further cross-examined by Mr Thorn. Witness said that a competent ploughman was usually expected to do all kinds of farm work. There vere incompetent men, but witness could not give a list of names of such. He had never been refused any holiday that he bad ever asked for, and the demands of the Union in respect of holidays were fair. He believed in contract work, and had made up to In 6d an hour at it when gorse grubbing. Where a man had to cook his otto "food, a little more money ought to be paid. For draining won* le an lour would be a fair thing. He believed in overtime pay and in the holidays asked for by the Union. To .Mr Kennedy: Witness knew two or three incompetent farm labourers. There was a lot of timo sometimes lost at harvest time through wind, and on such occasions the men simply sat about doing nothing, though their pay was going on. The general hours of labour in the harvest held wero 7 to 7. He had never worked on a place where there were no luncheon adjournments. Ten years ago witness earned Is an hour at draining work, and he had to find himself. He could not say that living now was dearer than it was ten vcarc> ago. 6omo things w-ero dearer now, l>'-!t others were cheaper. To Mr Acland: When witness waa working r>a the farm where his wife cooked for himself and a ploughman, he wns supplied with a cottage, rent free, mutton, butter, milk, eggs, flour, firing, and the run of the garden, and' he was paid 30s-a week, and 10s for the keep'of the ploughman who lived with ' him. To Mr Jones: It would be impossible for him to carry on satisfactorily un--der the demands of the Union. He •made more money under contract than under the day system of labour. Had there been any dissatisfaction among labourers, witness thought he would have heard of it. There was«no necessity for any half-holiday. To Mr Sueat: Witness had worked for as low as 15s and 20s a week, but not of late years. To Mr Rusbridge: Yes; he believed there was a majority of incompetent men. Mr Rusbridge said that this was - surely a reflection on the farming industry, for which this Dominion was so noted. Continuing, in reply to Mr Rusbridge, witness said that the wages asked by tbe Union for work such aa .' tnrnip-hoeinc were not too high. To Mr Whiting; He could not en,y "why there wero so many incompetent men—whether it was because the young fellows would not learn or be- , cause the farmers would not teach. Two out of four men were incompetent. It would be a fair thing to. pay 3d an hour more for stacking than for stocking. Bernard Tripp (called by Mr Acland) said that he had been manager of Orari Gorge Station for sixteen years. If the demands of tho Union were carried out to the letter, he would not be able to carry on a sheep station. It would bo impossible to fix any definite holidays; it would be far better to leave the holidays for arrangement between men and. master. . When work was a man could always get away, and witness bad never had a growl out of the men yet. There was no trouble with the food so long as a good cook was kept, and during the past five years witness had been very lucky in this respect. If a witness had stated at Timaru that -the food supplied to musterers consisted of broad and mutton and tea, and tea and mutton and bread, witness could not agree with him. Witness's men were supplied with potatoes, mutton, bread, batter, golden syrup, currants, raisins,, .' and vegetables in season."A"good many swaggers called at the station, and a man was never refused a meal. In his father's time, as many as 200 men ' had called in one night, and as many as 1600 in one year. There were not co many now. There was a station library for tho men. In this there' were 400 nooks, and while it was subsidised by the station owners, tho men paid 2s 6d a year towards the cost of its upkeep. Witness did a lot of work by contract, and would not like .to see that system abolished. The contractors. '-■ usually made good wages. On two occasions contractors had told him that ! they had not done well out of therr jobs, and in both cases he had increased the price to what they asked '*. after tho completion of the work. Wages had gone up 25 per cent, during the past ten years . To Mr Jones: Witness ploughed - about 1100 acres a year, and did' it by * contract. ■ He found the contractors " in horses, implements, sleeping gal- ' leys, etc, sola them oota at Is 6d a bushel.and chaff at 3d per hag. The men found their own food, and paid 'their own. cook, and he paid them so much an acre for ploughing, harrowing, rolling, etc. This system had ' been, adopted by hkn three .veer* ago, and he found it to work very satisfactorily. The men were perfectly sa-tis- • fied, md he would bo sorry to see the present _ conditions interfered with. Under his system the ploughmen were their own masters, worked what hours they liked, earned good monty •* (more, he thought, then if they were • on toy the week), and they neve* T troubled about a Saturday half-holi- . der. ,;■-... To Mr Thorn: It would he quite im- '. possible to make an award which - would operate fairly to ell parties. y '3lr v Tt»j» invited Mr Thorn to go to bis etactos for a week and test the • accuracy of this statement. Mr -' Thorn, said he would accept the invite--1 tioa Witness said thai the wages to he paid to shepherds varied according: to the skill of the individual and the size of tho place he was on. Witness said he would not name a, minimum wage, be bsKeved in giving a man what h<a ; • was worth. N In reply to the Chammwi of the Board, witness said thxt would be poseiblo to fix a minimum wage, but in the interests of man and master it was undesirable. Continuing, in, reply to Mr Thorp, witness said the wages derooaided for .' ploughmen would not bo too high if th© union would guarantee the .. weather.. Witness gave his men L, : Practically a fortnight's holiday, beI sides odd days, during tbo year. It 1 • ?<?£¥ ** injfpossflbje to fix a permanent I. hsJWioliday. Wk .To Mr Kennedy: No, he did not B think £3 a week too much to pay ■ mesterers in the back" country when ■ wj wero only on for a brief period. W Witness paid £3 10s a week for abort "f iraisterings and £2 a week when the men were on for a long period. Kennedy put a number of quest»Es concerning wages, but witness Mud that the wages to be paid depend*d altogether upon the capaoitv of the n***- Witness paid his cook"*:! 10b a * eek and a £10 bonus. Increasing to*J»»fJOB of cooks would not prevent - saem from drinking. (Laughter.) < W«ness was fortunate in having a oook who did not drink. As long as I ™SB were good, wages would not be cat down. In repfy to Mr Acland, Mr Tripp •said that no man with any sense would start his men mustering- in the rain or in heavy foggy weather. Merino : J*™* 8 oa hill country were fxr tho best - hmo at lambing time, so that snepherds in charge of such sheep had act much to do ait lambing time.

To Mr Evans: Witness found his system (above described) of letting his ploughing at so much per acre very satisfactory, and a number of his hands had been with him for a sreat many years. ' . . To Mr Jones: Present condition* wero very satisfactory, and no change was required. . To Mr Sheat: If an award were made as desired by the Union it would hamper the productive powers of th« Dominion if prices fell. Under the award, too, tbe "misfits" would not bo given a chance.. Mr Sheat remarked that the food he had seen at Mr Tripp's station on. Tuesday was very good, and he asked Mr Tripp if it was always of such good quality. Mr Tripp said Yes. The cook had said to hrm that morn ing that he wished the Board had visited the station a day later (after he had baked) as the food they had seen was only "the tail end of the scraps.'' John South, of Orari bridge (called by Mr Evans) said that he was farming 200 acres. He had made his start in life ploughing at Ids per week. He went from this to Mr Tripp's station sorting pieces, and then to a flaxmill, and at 23 years of ago he had saved sufficient to pay a deposit of £110 on «) acres of land. Land went up in price after this, and he sold the 60 acres at a profit which enabled him to buy 200 aicres. It would be quite impossible- fcT witness to carry on his farm under set ruks, and he did not think that anyone couJkl do so. Wit naa had found no dissatisfaction among fWra hands, but he had found some dissatisfaction among men in regard to the way they were treated by the Labourers' Union. ■To Mr Thorn: If he had to pay 37s 6d a week to his ploughmen he would qeaso farming Most of the farm hands in tho Geraldine district were incompetent. That was his belief. Mo, he would not give tho names of incompetent men in public, but he would give Mr Thorn the names, of some after the Board had risen for the day. Robert Bennett, farm labourer at Orari station, and possessed of 50 acres of riverbed, said ho had no fault to find with present conditions. He hoped the contract system would not be abolished, as under this system he had made 10s, 15s, and 20s a day. It was tho man below tho average who wanted the contract system abolished. Witness liked to do his own business, and not to have it done for him by the Union. To Mr Sheat: If a vote of the working men were taken, he believed they would vote for a continuance of the existing systom. Alexander Campbell, sheep farmer, of Kakahu, was called by Mr Acland. Witness said he had done a lot of mustering on various stations. He had found the food satisfactory, and of late years conditions in general had improved. He had been a musterer for years, but three years ago he bought a place of bia own out of-his savings. (Mr Acland said this witness was one i who had risen from tho ranks on his savings.) Witness said that mustering was not done in wet weather, and he had nothing to complain of in re- | spec* of any of his employers. Mustering could only be done in one way, and he could not suggest any methods of improvement. To Mr Thorn: Was not paid for Sunday. work, but was allowed time off for it. He had found £2 a week sufficient pay for mustering. £80 would be a good wage for a head shepherd on mountainous country The Union's demand for £92 was too high.