The Press TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1939. Housing of Farm Labourers

Press, Issue 22599, 3 January 1939, Page 8

The Press TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1939. Housing of Farm Labourers

In a short statement on the farm labour question, at the end of last week, the Minister for Labour said that, until accommodation on farms could be “ brought up to a reasonable “ standard of comfort,” is must be difficult to induce young men to remain at farm work; and he announced that the Government would shortly make cheap money available to farmers for workers’ houses. The argument is sound and has been endorsed by the Dominion conference of the New Zealand Dairy Board. The Government’s proposal is accordingly a welcome one. Good housing for country labour will certainly remove one of the reasons which commonly actuate married workers in leaving or refusing farm jobs, and will certainly influence young, unmarried men to choose jobs which are now in too many ways less attractive than are offered in the cities or on public works. It has long been clear that the future of agriculture is gravely threatened by the widening disparity between the amenity of urban and of rural life; and it is a mistake to think of this problem merely as one of production. The social and economic consequences of allowing urban standards of living to advance more rapidly than rural standards sum up to a much heavier total of danger. They will not be countered by better housing alone, it is true; but they will not be countered without it, and will not be countered by any schemes in which it is not fundamental. This is the case for prompt and sufficient assistance to farmers. Few of them are so dull as to have let the deficiencies of their accommodation handicap them in the labour market, if they had been able to overcome the other handicap of finance to provide better. Mr Webb’s statement is therefore encouraging. But it may be well to remember that his predecessor, more than a year' ago, announced that standard plans for farm labourers’ cottages were being prepared, under the State housing scheme, and that farmers would be enabled to buy on easy terms. It is to be hoped that Mr Webb will more speedily pass from announcement to action and progress. It is to be hoped also, as his statement appears to imply, that he will liberate his scheme from the State Housing Department. As we said almost a year ago, if the Government were to receive and consider applications for loans, with sketch plans and estimates, building would probably begin sooner and go on faster and. more widely than if the Housing Department were to make district surveys and initiate district schemes. If the plans spoken of by Mr Armstrong are at last ready, the publication of these would no doubt be useful. But it is obvious that “ standard ” plans prepared without regard for the very different climatic and other conditions and needs of different districts would be of limited value; and to insist on their being accepted and followed everywhere, in spite of this limitation, would be short-sighted. To give the best results, Mr Webb’s scheme will need to have enough flexibility for various requirements and various opportunities.