FARM LABOURERS' DISPUTE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIX, Issue 14610, 18 February 1908, Page 9

FARM LABOURERS' DISPUTE.

CONCILIATION BOARD AT WAIKARI. Yesterday afternoon the Conciliation Board resumed the hearing of the farm ! labourers' dispute at Waikari. | Charles William MacDonald stated, in reply to Mr Kennedy, that he was ■ a ploughman, aged twenty, and lived iat Horsloy Downs. For the last four • years ho had worked at Balmoral, receiving 22s 6d per week at first, when sixteen years of age, doing three-fur-row ploughing with a six-horse team. It was very heavy work, and he was at it about three months. The land was swamp and manuka land, and the water often came up to one's knees. There had been flax on the land, which had been cut and left lying on the ground, and at times this blocked the plough. He was laid up for a fortnight in consequence of having to work in the wet. Sometimes the plough got stuck and the horses begged, and fresh men and horses had to be got to got these out. i For such work he thought 85s per ! week and found was not at all too much; 27s 6d was a fair wage for ordinary ploughing. His brother worked with him at Balmoral. He left that station last week, because he asked for more wages and was refused. His brother got the "sack." At no time had his employer found fault, with their work, either 'as to quality or quantity. He thought 2s 6d extra should be paid for each extra horse over the first lour. Certainly feeding and grooming and harnessing horses was work. Per- • sohally, he thought it was harder work than ploughing, quite as hard, a.t j any rate. The horses were sometimes I two miles away in the morning. They ! were in a 500 acre paddock. He had jto get up at 5.35 a.m. The camps were very wet and muddy. The men were often up to their knees in mud | when, feeding the horses. Some parts. of the year they got no potatoes and ;no vegetables, scarcely anything but ; meat and bread. Sometimes they hud . butter, but very seldom jam. In winter j they ' had to get up in the dark and go' after the horses.-, get their breakfast at 7 and start work at 7.30. In summer they had breakfast at 6.30. He thought swamp ploughing was worth even more wages than thoso asked for by the Union. He thought preference to Unionists was fair, for the Union had fought for tho benefits and its members should therefore profit. He thought a boy sixteen y\?ars of age was too young to be put to work ploughing with a four-horse team. He considered the holidays asked for by the Union were fair and reasonable, and that there was no pracii- \ cal difficulty in the way of their being granted. He approved of the halfholiday. How he would spend it was i his own affair. Sometimes he would do his washing then instead of at night, as at present. Ho had done hill ploughing with a three-furrow disc plough. It was liable to upset. He had had some capsizes, and on one occasion was nearly pinned under tho plough. It was necessary to hold the plough up on steep ground. He had done harvesting and threshing, also driving a reaper and binder in rough country, such as en downs whore manuka had to be cleared off. Sometimes the binder would run into the stumps and skid. His wages were 22s 6d per week and a bonus of £2 12s one year for a four weeks' harvest. He thought Is per hour for the crow, Is 3d for stookers and forkers, and Is 6d for stackers was fair. The stacker's work was more responsible, and therefore should be better paid. He thought ten hours' work was sufficient for harvest time, and overtime should be paid beyond 7 p.m. To Mr Thorn: He did nine hours and sometimes eight and a half hours in tight chains. The hours were fourteen, less meal times. He-had boarded in Christ-church for 30s per week, and in comparison he considered the board and lodging provided for farm hands was n"t worth more than 10s x>er week. That made his total wages equal to 37s 6d. _He thought seven hours in tight chains- was sufficient.

To Mr Jones: Thoy grew about 160 acres of grain at Balmoral. Witness kept a hack of his own, being charged sixpence per week for thisu The horse was often used for his employers- work, going to Culverden and back for repairs to plough and so forth, perhaps on the average three times per week. The food was principally broad and meat at Balmoral. He- did not mean that they were practically living on those articles all the year round, but that there were odd times when they bad been without potatoes or vegetables of any description. He thought boys of sixteen years of age should not bo put to ploughing. Some might bo able to do it, but they oould not last at such work. His brother had been injured thereby. He had heard dissatisfaction expressed at Balmoral by three men. Ho should certainly say there was dissatisfaction among the farm labourers of Culverden, even if a dozen of tho leading contraotoTS of the district camo and swore they had hoard nothing of this.

To Mr Evans: He had joined the Union three or four months ago. Mr Evans: About the time Mr Kennedy visited that station, was.it not? Witness: No. about a fortnight later. Mr Evans: But as a result of MiKennedy's visit? Witness: Oh, no, not exactly. I never saw Mr Kennedy at all, though 1 believe some of the other men did. Continuing, witness said that not much time was lost last winter through wet weather, indeed, there bad been very little lest time during the last four i winters. Certainly there was never three weeks during which he had not been ablo to do any ploughing. Sometimes they could not start ploughing on account of frost. Ho believed in the half-holiday every week and' the fortnight's holiday in the year, and that this would be quite practicable for the employers and highly beneficial to the men. He knew that many small farms were worked by the father in conjunction with his sons, and supposed it might break up some families if the father was compelled to pay Union wages to his sons. To Mr Acland: Ho reckoned the board and lodging supplied at the station was worth 10s per week, because that was the price which the station charged for it to contractors and others working on the p!ace. George Owen Burney, of Walkari, farm labourer and musterer, aged 31, stated in reply to Mr Kennedy that he was working a 4-hcree team for 2os a week. He thought he shc-uld get 27s 6d per week, and 2s Qd extra for each extra horse after the first, four horses. Ho thO'Ught the wages asked for by musterers £3 per week and 10s per day for Sundays', were fair. _ He hnd. received 10s per day mustering for thirtyeight days in autumn. He believed in payment' for overtime. Ho had some sheep work for six or seven years, and thought the work was worth 32s Gd

per week. There was great responsibility in looking after ewes at Lambing time, and so forth. Perhaps a- man getting more than hare wages might bo more particular, though not always. It was more encouragement to pay tho shepherd extra/ He had done threshing by the thousand, and thought he would prefer to work by in good seasons afc any rate. Perhaps time payment was better in bad seasons. Mr Thorn and Mr Evans also examined the witness. At 5 p.m. the Board adjourned till 10 o'clock next day.

to rnis Enrroit. Sir, —Will you kindly allow me space to correct the report of iny evidence given before the Conciliation Board at Culverden, and published in your issue of Saturday last? First, lam represented as having said that the privileges given me were worth £IOO per annum to me to receive, and £SO per annum for Mr Rutherford to give. This evidence did not refer to my position at all, but to the free houses, land, firewood, mutton, etc., given to the married shepherds. In my own case, my privileges represent a good deal more. Then, again, you represent me as saying that I have had any amount of town men coming to Culverden, and asking to- be allowed to go poisoning with the gang for a holiday. Of course this is a palpable misstatement, as I have never lived nearer than twelve miles from Culverden. I stated that I had done poisoning work seventeen years ago, that the work was not at all arduous and did not require special knowledge, and my reference to townsmen was that visitors at Hanmer had asked me to allow them to come with me for a day's shooting with the rabbit pack. I said this to show the Board what one man considered bard work another might do for pleasure. The evidence was given regarding a different class of rabitting altogether, and did not refer to poisoning at all. Being under oath before tho Board, I could not in my own interest allow your report to pass without protest, as the construction placed on my evidence by your reporter is very misleading, and I am sure you would not knowingly publish such misstatements as are contained in your report of Saturday. Thanking you in anticipation.—l :am,

etc., ' W. H. NICHOLSON Leslie Hills, February 17, 190 S.