Farm Hands

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 98, 20 January 1936, Page 11

Farm Hands

Sir, —Tour correspondent of Wednesday last, who so aptly terms himself “Townie,” must, I feel, provide a depressing and demoralising example of decadence. When he infers that the chief interests of the majority of young men today lies in what he vulgarly expresses as "flapper,” then we can but assume. that he is being so blatantly unwise as to judge the standard of others by his own. When, in addition, he writes ‘‘that country life is unsufferable with its stilled monotony, broken only by the calls of animals or occasional canned music,” and goes on to , describe the country as a “living tomb,” I am amazed that anyone should seriously wish a statement so essentially false to appear in print. He crowns all by asserting that these, his personal objections to a country’ life, form the basis of the lack of appeal which this type of existence provide for the average man of New Zealand to-day. To this my answer is that if he wishes to look upon country life from such a deplorably degenerated point of view, ho is, of course, quite at liberty to do so; but when he is presumptuous enough to try to attach this point of view to a large section of the community who, in the main, are thoroughly healthy, both in their mode of life and in their outlook, then hie action becomes totally indefensible. In my own opinion, which I present for what it is worth, scarcity of farm hands to-day is due entirely to the disgraceful conditions which this country, like all others, has been experiencing. Not until the farmer is prosperous enough to pay the labourer a really good wage will labourers abound. It is to be hoped that the new Govern--ment will make this possible, for at present the great majority of farmers carry, through no fault of their own, so large a load of debt that they cannot possibly afford to employ labour at anything approaching its real value.—l am. ete., COUNTYMAN. Porangahau, January 17.

Sir, —I have read numerous childish' letters criticising the way the farmers make their farm hands live and work. It is mv honest opinion that 99 per cent, ot these letters are written by unexperienced “Townies” who, sooner than go and work on farms, would stand on the street corners with the city “flappers ’ criticising the farmer. I have worked on a farm for 18 years and what I can’t understand is why the city lads won’t go into the country. I suppose it is the same old complaintwages. IVell, if this be the case, it seems to me as though they haven t got much faith in the ‘Labour Government, which they say will give the farmers a guaranteed price for their dairy products.—l nm, CtC ’’A CONTENTED EARM HANDt ;;' Masterton, January IT. .'.Civ