FARMING INDUSTRY

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 March 1942, Page 2

FARMING INDUSTRY

NOT “ESSENTIAL” MEANWHILE.

WELLINGTON, March 6. _ A decision that at present it was undesirable and impractical, to uoclare farming an essential industry under the National Service Bmeigency Regulations was . made at a conference yesterday of. representatives of interested parties and the Government. This was i '® v^ a '- sc L„J r the Dominion secretary ot the Zealand Farmers’ Union (Mr A. P. O’Shea) to-day. At the conieience were the Associate Minister tor National Service (Mr. Minister for Agriculture (Mr. Haiclay), representatives, of Lne New Zealand Workers’ Union, the Sheepowners’ Federation, and the Farmers’ Union. „ .. , Mr. O’Shea said it was fully agieed that farming was an . essential industry from the national point of view, and labour must be made available for it, but tnere 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 oi farm labour, and were not continuously employee! on any one farm were the real major difficulty. It was also stated, added Mr. O Shea, that if a man wanted to leave a farm, any attempt to retain him by force could bring only unsatisfactory results. For one thing, the relationship between employer and worker was much more personal on a farm than in a factory. For another, a dissatisfied worker could not well be left to handle animals. The meeting was assured that Lie Government would do all it could to help solve farmers’ problems.