LABOUR FOR THE COUNTRY

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21377, 21 January 1935, Page 11

LABOUR FOR THE COUNTRY

to IHB SOITOR or TUB PEBSS. g- r jf, as your correspondent, •Sufferer." suggests, it is so hard to find nicn to do a fair day's work for a reg£ /:nabJo wage on farms, then there raust be something radically wrong with working conditions on many farms. In the first place, what do the farmer? consider a fair day's work? The cowboy probably starts work about 6 a.m.. and does about an hour's work before breakfast. For the rest t'< the day. apart from meal times, h' f is expected to make himself generally useful, and is lucky to finish up ' o y G r>t n sht- This is a normal Oay's work, and such periods as h«--vestins and .shearing bring extra hoprs fut scldcm much extra pay. On a Sunday the boy can expect a couple ef hoars' work, which brings his weekly working period up to roughly hours. This seems to suggest that the country bov's week in working hours is two days longer than his town brother working his 44 hours. For this outlay of energy he is compensated to the extent, in many cases, of a modest 10s a week, which works cut at 2d an hour. Having acquired a certain amount ef experier.jf. and being deemed worthy of higher honours, the cowboy may be promoted to the position ©f"teamster. In this capacity he will have charge of six fine horses, to whom he will act a.<•. commissariat agent, valet, nurse, and taskmaster. He will be expected to work his eight hours s day. That eight hours will comprise his actual working time in the paddock, but will not take into account the time spent in feeding, grooming, and harnessing his charges, and in doing minor repairs to gear. After .his evening meal the horses generally '' require attention again, so the teamster will spend perhaps 66 hours a week working and attending to his .horses. For a hard week's work hjs .cay is often £1 a week and found. ,Tbe Saturday half-holiday is almost 'unknown on the average farm, and yet the farmer wonders why men are not anxious to leave the towns to do what he terms "a fair day's work at 0 reasonable pay."

Although meals provided on farms are pcnerally satisfactory, the accommodation provided often leaves much to be desired, and sometimes is frankly deplorable. There are still too many farmers who expect an old kerosene tin will be a sufficient means to provide his man with a hot bath and to wash his clothes in. A little more attention to details of this nature, reasonable hours of work, and pay more in proportion to the amount of work done, and farmers would have no difficulty in getting men.—Yours, etc., MONDLAS. January 18, 1935.

TO IHE COnOH Of TB* FP.ESS. Sir.—ln "The Press" to-day a letter signed "Harvester" makes complaint about the treatment by farmers of harvest labour. His first complaint is about the accommodation provided; he forgets that harvest is for a few days or weeks at the most, and the accommodation provided is usually the best the resources cf the farmer will allow him to provide. No one regrets more than ihe farmer himself that he has to employ this extra labour. A comfortable bed and plenty to eat are all that a mr.n should expect. One of the worst aspects of farm labour is that it turns a farm house into a boarding house, and a farmer's wife into a boarding-house keeper, usually for a lot of ungrateful men. On the Sunday your correspondent complains that he did not receive his weals at regular times, I suppose he was lying en nis back all day, doing nothing except wait for his meals, forgetting that the farmer's wife who after, as he admits, weeks of harvesting had evidently been caught by visitors on the very day when she would have liked a little rest also, and had a busier day than ever instead. He then makes complaint that he did not get his meals with the visitors. Now the older I get the more I long to have my meals away from the general run of farm labour, with its rnopds and tempers and bad manners. There is no necessity, to my mind, that because a farmer employs labour he should have to live with it.—Yours, etc., FARMER. Ashburton, January 18, 1935.

TO IHB EDITOK 0» THE PB«S8. Sir,—Please, grant me space to answer a letter by one "Sufferer'' appearing in Thursday's issue. I am myself a cowman-gardener and farm worker of more than 20 years' experience, and although I. sympathise with "Sufferer," I say he has himself to ' blame. The farmer of the present day does not treat his men as farmers used to do years ago. Most of them look on their employees as stock on the farm and expect them to work from daylight until dark for a wage of 12s fid to 25s and "found" When I say "found," I mean the food supplied, which costs them between 7s and 8s a week, if that, although we are taxed en 15s a week. As far as accommodation is concerned, well, some of the dirty hovels I have been asked to sleep in could liardly be called accommodation. They are over-run with mice, rats, and fleas, not fit for human habitation, but what .can we do? The Government will not send round a health inspector. If it "did 98 per cent, of the huts, etc., where wrm hands have to sleep would be condemned. Some of the beds have filthy mattresses not fit for a dog to • Weep on. no pillow, only a sugar-bag filled with fusty chaff, no flooring except a dirty bag or two —beds that nave been discarded in the house, with the spring all rusty and full of holes. Some of the rooms have no fireplaces. If one wants a bath one has to heat the water in petrol tins, as there is no ?ath, one has to do the best one can >n the tins. Of course, this is done out- * We. No. no "Sufferer" is not the sufferer. We have to suffer the want °f a hot bath, a clean and comfortable bed, give up our entertainments, freedom, and many of the joys of life *o come out and work for a miser- - BWe 25r, minus Is lOd wage tax. 'Sufferer" talks of bringing more into the country to work "tor-lOa a week until they get tired of •he country life and drift to town, .Where, if they cannot get wirk, they fft cared for by the various institutions. Now, if "Sufferer" wants to entice the younger generation to come out and work from daylight till dark he should pay them, feed them, and give them a clean, comfortable bed to sleep in. That would be a better enticement than his threat to bring out more so-called farm workers from overseas. I have just left a position as cow-Daan-gardener in North Canterbury. I **nt to this place in answer to an advertisement, and when I arrived at 3 rt clock, after being in the train since 8 -20, and having nothing to eat, I naturally expected to he asked ill had had oimsej-; but no I was ,put to v«irk ■Jtgntvaway. I asked for a drink of ■tea sOd_ something to eat, but 2?f, t&% that the tire was out. well, i.ifife ta k en in f o the garden after * cup,of tea.and two small pieces of "ard. dry bread and bad butter. As • rule it is a practice for cowmenjardeners to hav> a cup of tea in the forenoon and afternoon, but I had i Bone there. They were too mean even L- ■

to give a second cup of tea at meal times, no sugar in the first one, and none on the table. I had also to buy my own light, which is supposed to be included in the "found." I found the garden in a very deplorable state and I was expected to do the next to impossible, or rather, make a presentable garden out of this neglected wilderness of overgrown shrubs and weeds. I was told by my employer that the man before me did not know weeds from flowers. Well, what can one expect for 12s 6d a week—a qualified gardener? I would not go out for less than 255, but the extra was taken out of me by my food. . New "Sufferer" may get some idea "of why the men prefer to stay in camps or walk the streets rather than give up their liberty and go and work for farmers such as I have mentioned here. One more thing I must mention. While I was there, even my correspondence to a friend in -the city was steamed open and read.—Yours, etc., DISGUSTED. January 20, 1935.