FARM LABOURERS DISPUTE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 97, 17 January 1908, Page 3

FARM LABOURERS DISPUTE.

<fWOMAN'S SHARE IN THE WORK. WAGES OF MARRIED COUPLES. [FROM' OUR SPECIAL COnEEBPONDENT.] Christchuroh, January 16. • Woman's' sharo in tlio work of the farm has .been very little in evidenco during the hearing of tlie farm labourers' dispute,•'but at Waimato on Tuesday a small farmer and labouror named Gray introduced it. Ho said-that ho and-his wifo had worked as a married couplo' on a farm when they had been paid £80 a'year and-a free houso for the two of them, and both had plenty of .work to do. Tho demands of the Union for married couples wero very reasonable. It ■would be. quite reasonable to expect the employer ' to provide a liorso for tho use of liiarripd couplcs on Sundays' so that they could, go out for a drivo; ' On another placo whero witness and his wife had worked as a married couplo ho had been paid £104 a year, and in another £Sy, Husband and wife should receivc a separate wago adequate for tho work performed. ,Mr.. A child put a number of questions ivith a view to showing tho impossibility of fixing a. minimum wage for -a woman who lived on a station with Jicr .husband to cook foj* an cvery-'varying number of workers. Mr. Acland characterised as unfair the demands of tlio Union for los. a week for tho wife, with 2s. extra for every person cho had to cook for over four, pointing out that in the event of thero being twenty persons to cook tor tho wifo would bo,yarning 475. per week and found in food and-dwelling-houso. Witness said ho considered the wifo should jiii paid for the work sho did just as a girl ;ii tho town would bo paid for jt. ' Mr. Acland pointed out that a woman omployeo on a station was given assistance •vlieii there was a good Jiumber to cook for, a nil ho contended it would be better to give lier a fixed wage rather than a wajjo varyingaccording to .the number of visitors an employer might invito to his placo. Witness said that it would bo easier for a "oman ,to cook for seven men on a farm or station than to attend to six boarders in a houso ill town. A man working for himself would do more in a day than if ho was working for someoiio else. Ho did not beliero ill contract work. Ho' had heard that tho president of a branch of the' Farm Labourers' Union went in for contract work pretty extensively. All tho riff-raff from tho towns, tho broken down and the incompotent, went to "tho poor old farmer" for a living. Witness said !io found farming a' very profitable occupation, better than working for wages. He was potato-growing now, and found it profitable. He employed a man occasionally-and paid him Bs. a" day. Ho ;!id not give this man tho Saturday half--holiday.' Ho had never employed him on a Saturday. It was a caso nowadays of every man for himself. Twenty-seven and six for the. man and los. as a minimum for tho woman wero fair wages.to bo paid to married couples. Air. Acland said that he had engaged a married couple for liis station at a stated jvago for slack and busy times. Tho woman had remained so long as tlioro was very littlo to do, but as soon as threo or four visitors had gone to the station sho left. David Jones, a general farm hand, in the course of his evidenco said ho came to Now Zealand from A r ictoria four years ago. In Victoria on a dairy farm he had, when a lad of 17 or 18, earned 17s. 6d. a week, and on a shcop station ho had earned' 255. a week. Ho preferred tho conditions in Victoria to those obtained in New Zealand. He did his washing, cleaned out his whare, etc., on Sundays. Ho would liko all day Sunday oIF, so that ho could go to church or elsewhere. At tho present timo witness was earning £2 10s. per week and found for -stocking, and ho was paid wet and drv. He considered that 275. 6d. a week should bo lixod as a minimum wago. It was true that tho farmers had to teach tho beginners, but ho considered that they should pay the minimum wago asked by tho Union to competent and incompetent alike. Where witness was at present working ho was allowed to do nothing on wet days. Ho could not find timo in 16 hours to clean his wliaro out, nor to do his washing. Ho did not get up on Sundays until 8.30 or 9. Then ho had Jiis breakfast, and "a man liked.a smoke" after breakfast; Witness was cross-examined on a number of points to show that ho could, if ho chose, do his washing in half an hour, leaving him ample time to go to church. It was contended also that there was no need to do tho washing on Sundays. Witness said he could not iind timo in tlio week. Ho did not believo in workin" after tea.