THE LOT OF THE DAIRY FARMER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 10, 6 October 1917, Page 8

THE LOT OF THE DAIRY FARMER

Sir,—l have just learned that under a recent Dairy Workers' Union Award, managers of factories are Eubject to a fine of .£1(1 if they accept milk from any supplier after 3.5 a.m. I daresay it will bo asserted that this neu- union rule will only affect laggards, but these eivme arc generally men who have to drive lons distances to the factory, and who v must needs begin their day's labour far earlier than suppliers more adjacent fo it. The effect of Ihis order of the workers' council will doubtless enable the manager to finish liis day's work half an hour or more earlier, but no considera* lion is given to those residents in outlying districts who already begin work long before sunrise, and who must now observe still more unearthly hours f° r themselves and their workmen and families, or cease to supply milk to the factory. Some will no doubt prefer the latter course, and seek other occupations, as the interminable wranglings in Parliament over the price of butter, and pinpricks by union officials, to say nothing of the butter-fat tax, sickens dairy farmers, who now foci that London market prices have no longer any interest for them. T would just like to see some of our loudest talkers in Parliament tackle the dairy business, and wonder if prices should, unfortunately for the Dominion, fall below "zero" if our Minister of Agriculture, who talks so glibly about the fortunes tjing made by dairymen, will support the live-and-let-live price he or his Board of 'trade fixed for lost seasun as the ruling price for this year. If he is inclined to speculate in cheese and butter, as well as wheat, might I remind him that it costs about Is. Sd. to produce a pound of butter-fat, allowing the dairyman the same rate of pay as the wharf lumper, for the. number of hours he is engaged in tending his cows and preparing and marketing his produce, allowing nothing for the work of his wife, who, to her credit bo it said, is truly a helpmeet to him in the conduct of his business. The.se dairy, union officials have no consideration for suppliers, and seem impressed with the idea that factories are erected and carried on for the especial benefit of dairy operatives. Sfany creameries are being dismantled and closed, and employees thrown out of good billets, through the exactions and unwarrantable interference of the union and the increased cost of running them. This vaunted Arbitration Act which gives' these union officials an eiaggernted idea of their own importance, is handicapping employers to an- extent little dreamed of by thos* not concerned, and has been the direct means of reducing the purchasing power of the sovereign to a fnr greater extent than the "exploitations" of the much-malign-ed farmer and distributer.—T am. rtc, FABMEK. Oamaru, October 3.