Labour From Fiji Refused

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31635, 22 March 1968, Page 1

Labour From Fiji Refused

A request by the North Canterbury Nassella Tussock Board for Fijian labour for the 1968-1969 season has been refused. In a letter to the board yesterday, the Minister of Labour (Mr Shand) said: “I know Fijian labour has given you good service in the past, but I am sorry to say that under present conditions I cannot see my way clear to grant the board’s request. “Our level of unemployment for this time of the year, compared with previous years, is quite high, and will continue rising as seasonal work tapers off. Provided the right selections are made, you should be able to obtain the workers you require from New Zealand sources. I realise that New Zealand labour might be

more costly, but this would not justify my agreeing to the entry of labour from overseas, while numbers of our own people are looking for work.” Mr Shand went on to say that the Government had assisted the board financially last year. While he was not in a position to commit the Government or the Minister of Agriculture, he was sure that an application this year for financial assistance to provide work for unemployed workers would be considered sympathetically. Mr Shand’s letter to the board was read when the draft estimates for 1968-69 were tabled. These showed that the board had budgeted for an expenditure of $144,000 on wages. To a question from Mr A. J. Blakely, the secretary of the board (Mr G. A. Hay) said he had allowed in the estimates for the use of local labour.

On the motion of Mr A. A. Macfarlane, it was decided that the board’s chairman (Mr F. K. Forrester), Mr C. H. T. Morrison and Mr Hay should

call on the Minister of Agriculture to discuss its likely labour position before completing its estimates. Later in the meeting, Mr F. J. Bain asked who had compelled the board not to employ schoolboy labour. Mr Hay replied that this matter had arisen last September when the men in camps felt that schoolboy labour should not be employed on Saturdays while they sat at home. A union approach was made to the board, and it was found that the board was required to pay them the overtime rates that applied to ordinary labour. This was stipulated in the award. Mr Hay added: “You will recall the hullabaloo created when the Waitemata Council employed three boys to paint manholes white. Because of the existence of unemployed workers, the council had to dismiss the boys forthwith.”