WORK ON FARMS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 144, 14 December 1935, Page 10

WORK ON FARMS

(To the Editor.) • Sir, —It is of very great moment to New Zealand that the press and the people who correspond in the Press columns are-focusing their attention on the question of farm employment, because as you pdint out there must be something radically wrong with this great industry. For the year ending March 31, 1934, the exports from New Zealand amounted to £46,042,570 (excluding specie), and practically "all of this is primary production, i.e., farm produce, and to say that such an industry can only, afford to pay a grown boy or man 10s to 15s a week (generally) confirms the general opinion of something being wrong. There have been numerous letters in the daily papers recently pointing out the .fact that no difference is made in farm employees' wages, whether the farmer is making £100 a year or £500 a year, also pointing out the greater number of hours worked, the very poor accommodation provided, the absence of time off, and Sunday work for a mere pittance below even, in some cases, sustenance pay. Last week there appeared in "The Press," Christchurch, a statement from a "Farmer" giving the fol knving particulars of an actual verified case. "A boy, 17 years of age, employed on a farm, started work at 4 a.m., milked half of a total of 40 cows before breakfast. After breakfast he cuts wood in the riverbed and other jobs, no time off in the afternoon, two hours to get the cows out of the river-bed through gorse,-fur-ther milking and odd jobs, and finish at 10 p.m. each day. This equals about 108 hours a week, jiot including Sunday, and his magnificent remuneration is 10s per week." It cannot be necessary to have such hours and ridiculous pay generally, because all farmers are not poor; in fact, the majority are not, and it seems that if they were to be a bit more considerate when times are better than the very bad, they should at least allow the farm workers to participate in higher -wages. However, with such conditions existing there is no chance of getting men or boys to go in for farm work, and as the industry is too vital to be ignored,.something must be done to show the farmers of New Zealand how to treat good honest labour, and to see if work cannot be arranged to make full-time employment for those who go in for it.. (There must be some casual workers always). If the Farmers' Union and the Christianity of farmers themselves cannot do it, then the people's representatives must of necessity take a hand, but something must be done to end the conditions on many farms in New Zealand.—l am, etc., EQUITY.