SCARCITY OF LABOUR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 111, 3 February 1908, Page 11

SCARCITY OF LABOUR.

■ for TELEGRAPH—-SPECIAL COItEESPONDENI.) ' ■ 'Dunedirv February l. There is a marked scarcity of labour in the . «outh.- A ".registry.; office keeper . has stated ■ thr •bo wanted '31 milkers, at prices ranging • fr''..-. 15s. to 30s. weekly,-and could not get t? or money. He also wanted 30 _f ai : hands and ploughmen at 30s. a week, ; t but saw.',no prospects of getting them. r .The . supply;of harvesters just about equalled tho; demand,' bub all available labour was going : . • North at- ls. per hour, leaving-the farmer in the south,Vß'ho will not pay more than 9d.\ • ' out : for,-. nieii. - ; Labouring, ,nien',p it;.seems, wherever possible,' refuse to go out of.the town,'sin3 for,Ahe'se more^work • is offering than can be'disposed of. v . : "I advertised for labonrers' for the town .for. three consecutive days, offering-9s.,'Mre- : , marked »the'speaker,,, "mid I did not get a .' single reply. > As for domestic servants, I absolutely refuse to *tako applications. Dur- . ing January. X suppose'l had between 50 and 60 applications, for:.,servants' from townsi ' people,-' and I could consider none. • Thoy are not.-tovbe-had> at from 10s. to £1 per , v week.; 1 ?Tho,.,factories aro asking for girls -just now, and are willing to: pay them from 15s. to Ho thought, however, that when shearing, and harvesting nrq finished .there.-.will be i moro. labour -available;, and , that the. present tightness will, be succeeded , by more than a sufficiency of mon.