The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, May 13. 1944. 40 HOUR WEEK UPHELD.

Grey River Argus, 13 May 1944, Page 4

The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, May 13. 1944. 40 HOUR WEEK UPHELD.

After his previous letter on the subject, it is a real surprise now ,to find Mr. W. T. Ogilvie, in another column, avowing the greatest liking for Labour’s 40hour week legislation. •If we previously misunderstood him, it was his own fault, for he then said: “The dire position of the farmer has not arisen overnight. The 40-hour week with six days’ pay for five-day work was the start of it. In any sort of industry of a productive nature it simply doesn’s work. The big wages and shorter hours offered by the P.W.D., and the mines, and the mills soon depleted the farmers’ staffs; even farmers’ sons and in some cases farmers themselves were enticed to let the farm sweat.” The point in recalling this earlier statement of his is to indicate the extreme difficulty of guessing what our correspondent means. The only certainty is his hostility to the Government. He now asserts that the entry of men into neither the forces nor the industries deprived farmers of labour so much as the appointment of men as inspectors, controllers or civil servants, with a 38-hour week. If farm labourers were so capable as to fill these jobs, our correspondent should instance at least a few of such appointments. He does not suggest that some of those appointees left in the lurch the hens whose roof he was offered. It is quite too bad that he has been —by somebody or other —given the impression that the morale of New Zealanders generally has gone to pot entirely. Moreover it is no proof that he reckons his plant a depreciating asset when he at present is increasing’ it to far greater dimensions than it ever had before! It seems as if it is only West Coast millers who have a grievance to the extent of 74 cl per 100 feet regarding prices, and that millers elsewhere are on velvet! Our correspondent reckons the Dominion has no credit balance in London, but he gives no more authority for that conjecture than for his idea that so many farm workers have become inspectors and controllers. Possibly the proof has escaped his memory in the same way’ as his statement previously that the 40hour week in mills, mines and elsewhere cooked the farmers’ goose. It is reasonable to say that if a forty-hour or five-day week is a fair thing in one rural industry, such as milling or bushwhacking, farmers’ employees deserve some similar consideration. Prices should certainly admit of reasonable wages, whether on farms or in mills, but prices in war time must also be stabilised, just as wages are. If farm wages have been relatively low, it is fair to advocate better farm prices so as to enable the wages to be placed,on a competitive basis. The same admittedly holds good for the milling industry. But it is entirely a contrary idea to set out With the contention that, in order to keep labour on the land, wages anywhere or everywhere] else should be restricted. Our correspondent cannot have it both ways.