FARMER CRITICS

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LXII, Issue 23, 25 March 1941, Page 3

FARMER CRITICS

WAR ADMINISTRATION

IMPRESSMENT BUNGLE

THE POACHING OF LABOUR

Strong comment on what was described as "the bungling .and ineptitude" of officials in the' centres from which impressment warrants for motor vehicles were distributed was 'heard at a meeting tof the Wair.ar.apa Farmers' Union executive. The chairman, Mr R. W. Kebbell, said the plans for army manoeuvres of the kind for which the trucks were required could not be formulated at a moment's notice. The department responsible for the impressment had done nothing until the last moment, and then made a "horrible mess" of the business, reports the Masterton correspondent of the Auckland Herald. "My opinion, and I know many ■of you will share it, is that the person responsible for such bungling and ineptitude is deserving of one thing-rthe sack," said Mr Kebbell. "Moreover, he should have it handed to him immediately. If the enemy had made a sudden landing on our coast on that Friday, then the method used would have been in order. "As it was, the work of the farmers -of the district was upset, and there was an enormous waste of petrol taking unsuitable trucks down to Trentham and bringing them straight home again. The Government should know that this meeting of farmers feels very

strongly in the matter, and I say that the man responsible for this glorious mess is definitely not fit to hold his position." Instances of strange methods used to notify farmers that their trucks had been impressed were given, and Mr L. T. Daniell said -the percentage of returned trucks was extraordinarily high, the point of selection inconvenient in the extreme, and the notice far too short. The Chairman: We can all see that there has been as big a mess in this business as there has been in the formation of the Home Guard, and that is saying a good deal. "Out -of this muddle, and blundering, one aspect becomes clear, and reinforces a moral that the farming community has before made pointed remarks on," continued Mr Daniell. "The Government has not hesitated to commandeer capital,primary produce or men for the fighting forces. But labour poaching goes on unchecked, and one of the failures of the Government war administration has been in this field. The 40-hour week makes conditions more desirable in certain fields, and permits a definite prejudice against farming. Every industry is losing many skilled men overseas, but it is losing others by poaching and by the .offers of higher pay. Yet reference to the 40-hour week is shunned. "A man may change his occupation at will or caprice. The 40-hour week situation could be -overcome by any Government bold enough to act, .and the poaching of skilled workers could easily be ended by making it an offence, as it is in Britain, to employ a man normally engaged in certain specified trades except through the Labour or Manpower Departments."