FARM LABOURERS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 147, 18 March 1937, Page 13

FARM LABOURERS

Absorption by Other Industries SOLUTION OF PROBLEM “The Labour Department is doing all it can to meet the needs of the farmer in securing labour for him if it is available.” said the Minister of Labour, Hon. H. T. Armstrong, when speaking at the Dominion Dairy Conference in Wellington yesterday. Reports he had received, he said, showed that there had been very little difficulty in obtaining labour. In certain places it had been difficult to obtain the class of men required. He realised the inconvenience the farmer was put to if he could not obtain experienced labour. During the slump many farmers had to dispense with the services of experienced farm labour. Farm labourers were efficient men, and when industry commenced to absorb the unemployed the efficient men were taken first. Farm labourers had been absorbed into other industries. There was only one solution of the problem, and that was that farm work should be made more attractive. It had not been possible to supply all the experienced labour required, and the problem was one that, should claim the attention of the Minister of Labour. He appealed to farmers to make more use of the placement officers than in the past. He hoped in future to have these officers in more of the farming districts than at present.