A HUMORED YEARS BEHIND. ACCOMMODATION FOR SHEARERS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 136, 5 December 1907, Page 7

A HUMORED YEARS BEHIND. ACCOMMODATION FOR SHEARERS.

A COMPARISON. fßr TEiECHArir.-- Si'koiat. to The Post.l CinuSl'CllUmi, This Day. To obUin tho loqui&ito number" of shearers during the present season has been and is still likely to be n matter of considerable diflicully for tho owners and manage! s of the large pastoral properties in the Dominion, but particularly in Canterbury and Otago. Therefore the advent of a number of machine .sheazers from Xcw South Wains has coino as "a boon and a btcssing"' lo sheep fanners, as several of Iho larger sheds have been enabled to- man their boards with these men, most, of whom lnvo arrived in tho Dominion during the past few weeks in advance of other:s who may be expected later. An opportunity being afforded lo a contributor lo the Lyttelton Timos to have a, conversation with somo of the New South Wales shearer, he availed himself of tho chance to enquire as to Ihe conditions under which they worked in Now Zealand as compared with thoso under which the shearing is done on the other side of tho Tasman Sea. Talking with tho representative of a ! gang which had signed or to "cut out" a largo North Canterbury shed, he enquired as to tho conditions found in New Zealand. Tho New South AVelshman was very emphatic in his reply : "You aro a hundred years behind us on tho othor side," he said. ''There is absolutely no comparison to be drawn cither as to tho management of the sheds or tho accommodation provided for the men. First as regards tho machines ; when we . reach a shed we aro delayed while each man has to clean up and generally prepare for tho work, for tho machines have not been put in proper working ' order by an expert, as is always the case in Australia. Wo also have lo accept lower prices, as tlio standard limit in New Zealand in :C1 per 100 sheep as against 24s in Australia. As for the accommodation, that, too, is vastly inferior owing in a great measure to ihe absence of Government inspection. Tho law may be all right, but so far as I have experienced there is no regular inspection bore. In Australia tho men are housed in pairs, never more than two men being housed together. At one place in Canterbury, whero nine of us have been recontly, tho accommodation for all of us was no bigger than what would be provided for two of us in Now South Wales.' There each is provided with a _wire mattress stretcher, washstandj and mirror, with water laid on, and we arc required to keep tho room clean during our occupation of it, and before wo receive our final payment it is inspected, and then locked up till next season. The ground around these buildings we have to keep and' lcavo clear of rubbish, and the men take a pride- in doing so. Then the regulations provide that the mess-room should bo lighted each night till . nino 'o'clock, but whoro we have just coins from wo had no mess-room at all, and nowhere to sit to read or play cards in. We just had to roll down our swags and turn in on the floor. Suclr treatment would not suit the inspectors in Australia." . The shearer spokesman did not allege that all stations in New Zealand were aliko in thoso matters, but it was evident from Iho remarks of his companions lhat they endorsed all he said, and none could say too much for the arrangements made on the stations in Australia. In reply to a question as to why they came to Now Zealand to submit to lower pay and inferior treatment, the reply was suggestive: "Well,' it's worth a bit, you know, to get out of the heat in New South Wales for a month or two, and to enjoy .a bit ' of this prime climate of yours."