THE FARM LABOURERS' DISPUTE.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13009, 10 January 1908, Page 8

THE FARM LABOURERS' DISPUTE.

i-TRTRER E\*IDENCB AT GERAL DINK.

The Conciliation Board continued ito sittings at Gcraldine yesterday morniiH r when Mr Jones cailfd W. S. Mosliu. farmer, of Geraldine, who said be had been in Geraldine for the past -15 years. Jle had studied thedemands of the L'nion. with the rcwult Jiat the conviction had l*>en borne in i.M-isie--dc»iy upon him that it would bo quite nujKiSSiole to lay down hard and ta_st rulv.s under winch to carry on to lining operations. He had a farm of KiOO acres, and kuew that there must b> , a lot of give and take on the farm. Sometimes i;Ls team.-, did not go out to work in the winter until 10 and 11 u_"clock, owing to the frost, and orca-t .sionally in the hot summer days they knocked off /or an hour or .so" in the middle of the day and worked in the cool of the evening to make 1171 for it. This was by the wi.sh of his men, whom he k-ft to work in ilu- way they thought for the accomplishment of the work in hand. He did no! get 40 hours' work ;i week out of his, te-m;s —k*>s Ill.nl .se.veu houns a day. [i lie got seven hours he would consider that he was well .<ervod. Taking time !r*.t through frost and rain into consideration, lie did not think that he got more than :io hours a week from his teams. It would not he practicable In lix a minimum «;ip>, taking the variety of work to be done on a farm into consideration. He had heard no expression of di-sfia-tisfnetioii with the present rla.stio conditions which prevailed en the farm, and he mixed a good deal with all eiatv*is of men, including farm labourers. He had never had any difficulty with his employees. It lw>v.s waited until they were Iβ In go on a farm, they would never go at all. The work done on a farm with two horses required it much more skilful man than the work done by four, live, or .six horse.*, and preventing a boy from working more than, two horses practically meant preventing him from working horses at all. 'Hi the question of preference to Unionists, witness said this was one of the most atrocious things—and ho iisf.l the won! "atrocious" advisedly—ever attempted to be foisted on the farming community. Witness described how fathers and sons worked hand in hand, pooling their interewts to some extent, <md contended that it would be very wrong to break in upon and upset the family life as preference to Unionists would upset it. Witness was a etronp believer in the contract system, it Kave men an opportunity to rise nhove the ruck. He knew gorse cutters who regularly made V2s. Lite, and Us a day. cutting by contract, and men would often be_ deprived of work if they were prohibited from taking it br contract. Again, it was advantageous to many men to I>o able to take contract work, because they could do it at their leisure, workin" at it sometimes a full day, sometimes half a day, and so on. It did not have 11 tendency to lower wages, for the employers generally were always prepared to pay a fair price. Touching a point which had lieen raised at Timaru concerning the. danger of hillside ploughing, Mr Muslin denied emphatically that this was dangerous work. Quite recently he had employed a man 69 years of age 'working a "three-furrow plough, drawn X' six .hore<«. en steep hillsides, and the old man had ridden safely on th-e plough all the time. The "old man was stiff in the legs, and could not walk well, but seated on a three-furrow plough he could work as well as any n.an. Witness kept the old man as long as the ploughing lasted, at 25s a week, and he asked to be still kept on. and though witness did not know what else to find for him to do, ho said he could stop on and do odd jobs at 17k a week. The old man accepted this, but when these demands of the Union came along witness had to sack him, so that the Union would not bo i>ble to say that he had on has farm, at 17s a week, a mau who could work a three-furrow plough and drive a sixhoree team. Touching wages, witness said the ability of men varied so greatly that it was impossible to fix a set wage. An-*average ploughman was worth 20s a week. Mr Minson said that no previous witness had named so low a wage as 20s. Witness said that he would not employ a ploughman at.2os a week. He would prefer a man who was worth more, but would fix 20s as a minimum, and then let the price range as high above this as each man might be worth. Witnees bad been paying 27s and l 27s 6d a week. An average wage for a generally competent farm hand—fc man who ooiild do anything and would bo prepared to take the initiative when occasion demanded, would be worth raoro than 27s a weelc. To the Chairman: Wages nwist tie i fixed between employer Mid employee. j An- ompJnyer required to eeo a ina'ji before he could assees kis value. There was a good deal of undertime oe v.ell <is <ve.rttmo, worked on o. farm, anr' overtime, rates ehouM not be paid. Mr Muslin suggested to the IJoird that if they wanted to fix set hours lor tive farm, they should fix, not s-.» j many hours por day. but «> many houra foi the week* Formers could j not possibly bo 'bound down to co j many hours a day. I To Mr Jones: A farmer dad not got ink many hours a il-iy out of his men I as a .factory ewner got- out of his eiru I p!oye«?. To the Chairman : A Saturday ha'fIxrliday was neither possible nor desirable in tho country. Very few I men working on a ftw-m cJoso to towi; ' woukl save rconey. Witness g«.ve hin mem a fortnight's holiday in tho year, J and paid thorn for it. ' To 3!.r Kennedy: W-itnea; hetl new 1 beon pjcsidnrit of a Shearers' Union. i Fourteen years 'ho hid been «isked ito toko tho chair ot a Worker*' < Union, and he had done, this, .but ho ; did not. know what that union. «-as i doinnnding. Wit nee*; po.id 7s a da.> for eisucl la.bn.nr. Ut> to thiv»» yeaje «?(> tjicy iiFcd to get thie dafs of !<ilo;rr for (Vs a day. Tliero was .t I difference lK»twce-M jwying , overtime for night work, which kept a man out of his Ihxl. end peyi.n.g hiiin extra tor overtime worked in. daylight. Men were not sneh namby-pimby things as 'to be knocked up by ten or t.wclve I hours' work.