BOYS AND THE LAND

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 149, 20 December 1929, Page 10

BOYS AND THE LAND

(To the Editor.) Sir,—l read with interest the remark« of several of your correspondents urging parents to place boys on the land. I venture the opinion that so long as the Government allows boys to be worked all hours, no set scale of wages, no holidays, not even Sundays, and no inspection of lodging, the drift to town will continue. Town shop assistants have their awards, which regulate hours and wages, and so give them a fair amount of freedom, while in the country the boys have none. As cowsheds and pigs are under Government inspection, surely the health and welfare of a boy is above a pig. Why are conditions not made more attractive for the boys? When I left farming after four years, the hours were from 5 a.m. to 7 P.m., or after, seven days a week; wage 3 30s a week and keep. I was given a fortuight's holiday a year without pay, and allowed a day off when it suited my employer, to visit a town miles away. My day off commenced after I had washed cans, cow bails, and machines, and ended about 3.30 p.m., in order to get back to the farm in time to change and prepare for the evening milking. The hour for dinner was unknown. As I did not seem to be any further ahead, I decided to do what the young men have been doing and will continue to do: I looked for a job in the city, and found one. because I earn three times the wage for half the hours and under decent conditions. The city mau says more production, and that boys of the city will not go on the land. Well, can you blame them?—l am, etc., i > TRY IT.