FARM LABOURERS' DISPUTE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 89, 8 January 1908, Page 9

FARM LABOURERS' DISPUTE.

! i ; EVIDENCE AS TO WAGES. ' TIIE CONTRACT SYSTEM, o ' - (BY . TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL. CORREOrONDENT.) '• • • Christchurch, Jaiiuary 7. The Conciliation Board;.'which"'adjourned' .its inquiry-'into the farm labourers' dispute for the Christmas holidays, resumed its sittings at Geraldine yesterday. l ' ' •;•. '■■ V. ' James Hdndcrson,. farm labourer at Orari/ "said that lie 'was principally '■ engaged' at draining, for which he was paid 7s. per day; and 6s. per day for ordinary day labour. Ho was certainly riot satisfied with ss. a day, and that 7s. Gd. a day would be a fail' wage to,ask. ilo did-not.seo ivhy-farm labourers should not he given a half-holiday ■on which to play cricket, tennis, etc., or to dig in thoir gardens, tho 'same as town workers got. .To work in tho harvest field from 7, a.m. .to 7 p.m. was quito long enough for any man, and ovortinie should most certainly be paid for as demanded by the Union. Witness's employer was ono of tho best em- ; . ployers in the country. Witness-did not ; behove in contract work, as it .simply meant putting one man's brains- against those of another.' 'If contrapt work were abolished thero would'not be a tendency for meii to 1 loaf on their employers. Witness last year earned £105 ( and ho found it impossible to save any of it. Ho had a wife and ono chili to keep. .To Mr. Jones: A farmer could always "be at" a man who hoed turnips for 'him by making him go over the field a second time, after ho had gone through it onco, on the ground that tho crop was not ' properly because . there wero ' a. few weeds' loft. A'o turnip- hoer could mako ss'. a day at the present rate of.wages, if ho thinned out the crop properly, and cut tho weeds out carefully.' . -Mr. Jones' pressed tho witness to supply tho names of turnip hoers, who. he said wero only earning 3s.' and 4s. a day at tiirniphoeing, but ho said he could not remember ,the names. ■ ■ ■ ■ .. ■ • : •Air. Jones questioned' tho witness as to •what ho thought of tho amended demands of tho Union, -by which it was claimed that all hands should ho paid a minimum wage of £2 15s. per week during tho months of January and February (harvest- time),' whothcr such hands were employed at harvest work or not. ■ Witness said ho haddieard nothing of such a domand, and several moffibers of tho Board said that Mr. Jones should not havo-asked tho question, as it was not beforo tho Board. Mr, Ackland said it was, and it' meant that omployors who owned property fen which there was no harvest would bo required to pay their cowboy £2 IBs. during tho months of January and February.' ? " • Mr. Thorn said "Yes," that was tho position-: .... ... William Seaward, day labourer, employed' at Orari by. the samo employer, gave evido'nco mainly corrobprating that of the last witness. • A long discussion took place concerning the contract systom, Mr. Jones contending that this systom tended to higher Wages, while', tho witness considered'' that it had an opposite offoct. Witness admitted that in his employment he had been treated most fairly. Ho had been-in the. Dominion for ten years, and had worked on only two farms during that timo. To-day -tho Board were to sit for thrco hours, when they would adjourn to visit Mr. Tripp's station at Orari Gorge, there to seo tho conditions under which the station hands aro working and living. Tho Board purpose sitting at Geraldine until the ond of tho present week, and on Monday they will go to Waimato to sit there for a'week, after which they will adjourn for fivo weeks for harvest.