A LABOUR FAMINE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 988, 1 December 1910, Page 8

A LABOUR FAMINE.

/./FARMHANDS.;VERT SCARCE. .- Inforraation. given in reply .to. inquiries :.,- ffl,ade:.by/a-Dominion representative, show ,;' that;there.is a great scarcity of farm lab'-;'-.Dnrti's;-at.. present.;. It was thought by some:ithat:.the milking machines would ! almost;. entirely-'^-ipe'out the difficulty : res'pefting-.'dairyirig; 'but without deti-act-v-big. mKanyyay "'from the value, of' the ':.machines;'it,must be'said that the trouble . is "acute' this year.; - ; Taranaki .farmers have felt the dearth :, of milkers 'to. a;greater extent than- in ■i former seasons.'."-'The average wage offered is 255. a; week-and found, but positions ; wc;rth";-305.:'and found-are still vacant. ; -.'Asihuch as 355. and found has been of- {'• fered;-.,. Even with the remuneration so ": highTrihigh.er than it has been in any re- . ;-ceht.':'yeal'ST-tho ■ demand 'simply cannot be ; .,-in^t:',,p,ne";'bf - the: reasons for the cpm';:.'rjaratively;.:few men offering is that on ..Bomej.farms-.they-w-ould not be employed j:>al) the. year round. ,' Milking is a rush :"'bi}sin'ess,=:,-and all -the ; milkers and the' ■';'casualsicaniiot fill the stools.' When the J ; cows'are slackening''off .or out altogether, ":!inany.:'hands : a're turned off. - Consequently,: to be in • constant .work ,are>n'ot 'kee'nVtp accept jobs' as, milkers' '.unless,'the .'employing. farmer will keep ■; them.:invwbrk, during the. time that the •: : .cows.''are. out) On farms offering■ con.j'istaiit employment 'the position is said to te'less acute.".••'-■''" ■■•:.'-'[■' "-'.-'■'.■

/'/.Certain farmers expected a particularly 'heavy demand this year, and, according-. ; V,': applied to the Labour,- Bureau as early :;as'vAugust for "assistants. \ •Twenty-five shillings and found is the ..averago •-, wage •offered to farm labourers/./other . than milkers.. . Farni/ers./;/state''/that on sheep stations ith'e ' Jdiffioulty ■; of ' getting hands is greater;,than.'in former years. Not ■only do they find the stations hard to .get. men,..but it is difficult-to keep them. '• Speaking 'to' the writer, one very wellr •known'sheep-farmer said.that a good deal . depended on the employers. Just as there w/'ere; some'men who could not be kept , any, lehgth' of 'time there were employers who. were not:good. at. handling employ: tees. /Those . were/the 1 employers who. were.' -frequently shortJianded. OiKsonie, staf :tipns, on. his''own,-;for instance, men* 'stayed.for over 'twenty' years. ' He, had' .'never trouble .with men working for /hira'._'. He made a practice of never withholding a man's pay. If he was dissatisfied with the work he paid in full, ■but he did not employ the workman, .again. He - keeps r his. shearers on all-tile Tear. .When shearing season he jnas his own staff and is quite independent of the labour wars which go on.out,,side .his boundaries. He has pajd over £1 ia hundred for : years -to/his shearers. He 'has no fixed price for shearing and the •men-do. not know what they are getting ."till'they get' their cheques'. -/./Some farmers,of experience make a point; of'engaging married men. Mar- ' :ried men stay longer, for various, reasons, /•the. chief of which are that, their family' iies'and the expense of shippine make it difficult ,tb. /move about, and they have not.the desire to shiffc'abbut from place ; to/place, for/, the sake of'change, and to. iiee'neV ; country. On'the big stations the jn'anpecj men are. generally provided witl) i«parate dwellings-for' themselves and their,* families, and .the houses dotted iibout/make/'thfi holdings look ; residential, settlements. . "-,