LABOUR PROBLEM

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 7, 9 January 1942, Page 4

LABOUR PROBLEM

TWO SUGGESTIONS

RAROTONGAN GARDENERS

Referring to the difficulty of obtaining labour for the market gardens, the tribunal expresses the opinion that the Government should carefully consider two suggestions made during the inquiry: (1) The bringing to New Zealand of Rarotongan natives to do the work, and (2) the training and employment of women. To overcome the difficulty caused by people living in flats being unable to grow their own vegetables, the tribunal suggests the possibility of an allotment system being introduced in suitable areas, and also states that it I thinks, under present war conditions, [that portions of public reserves and gardens might, with advantage, be used for that purpose. It adds that in Wellington, where vegetable prices are higher than elsewhere, it would be difficult, owing to the limited area of flat land, to find suitable areas in the required quantity; VEGETABLES FOR ARMED FORCES. The tribunal says it is clearly of the opinion that there is some room for improvement in the methods of buying vegetables for the armed forces, and that in particular any possibility of buyers for the different arms of the forces bidding against each other should be guarded against. The tribunal thinks that the whole question of the supply of vegetables to the armed forces in New Zealand' should be reconsidered, including the practicability of vegetable gardens being established alongside the camps, where repatriated servicemen could be employed producing vegetables for the camps. 1 Dealing with the reduction of areas of market lands in the Hutt Valley because of housing requirements, the tribunal recommends that if it is pos-' sible to avoid it, further land should not be taken of a class suitable for market gardening. "It has to be borne in mind," states the tribunal, "that if Wellington is to be supplied with cheap vegetables, all available land of suitable quality within a reasonable distance should be retained for vegetable

growing. If sufficient land at the Hutt is not available—and no evidence was submitted to show that sufficient land is available to provide for adequate supplies for the city of Wellingtonthen the only alternative that the tribunal can see is for increased supplies to be obtained from suitable localities further afield. Already some supplies are obtained from such places as Otaki and Levin, and the tribunal explored the possibility of further expansion in other localities. Evidence submitted to the tribunal, however, showed that no considerable area of first-class land suitable for market gardening was available in and around Otaki and

Levin, and that in respect of other localities which might be considered suitable, such as the northern Manawatu, Wairarapa, Nelson, Canterbury, and Gisborne, the cost of transport was, in existing conditions, prohibitive, and, in addition, there is the fact that deterioration sets in when supplies are brought from places further afield. The tribunal is of opinion that, in view of the importance of an adequate supply of vegetables being maintained for Wellington, any necessary steps should be taken by the Government to see that transport costs should not be prohibitive."