FARMERS’ PROBLEMS

Evening Star, Issue 24138, 7 March 1942, Page 8

FARMERS’ PROBLEMS

BARRIERS TO DECLARING INDUSTRY ESSENTIAL (P.A.) WELLINGTON, March C. A decision that at present it was undesirable and impracticable to declare farming an essential industry under the National Service Emergency Regulations was made at a conference yesterday of representatives of the interested parties and the Government. This was revealed by the Dominion secretary of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, Mr A. P. O’Shea, in reply to questions to-, day. At the conference were tho Associate Minister of National Service, Mr Wilson, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Barclay, and representatives of the New Zealand Workers’ Union the Sheepowners’ Federation, and the Farmers’ Union. It was fully agreed, Mr O’Shea said, that farming was an essential industry from the national point of view and that labour must be available for it, but there were numerous difficulties in the way of declaring the industry essential under the regulations—difficulties that did not exist in the case of secondary industries. Seasonal workers, who made up a considerable proportion of farm labour and were not continuously employed on any one farm, provided the major difficulty. It was also stated that if a man wanted to leave a farm any attempt to retain him by force could only bring unsatisfactory results. For one thing, the relationship between the employer and the worker was much more personal on the farm than in the factory, and for another a dissatisfied worker could not well be left to handle animals. The meeting, Mr O'Shea added, was assured that the Government would do all it could to help to solve the farmers’ problems v