ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express. TUESDAY, JULY 3, 1917. FARM LABOR AND THE SECOND DIVISION.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 155, 3 July 1917, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express. TUESDAY, JULY 3, 1917. FARM LABOR AND THE SECOND DIVISION.

Now that the time is approaching when the .Second- Division men must be^drawn upon to keep up:the regular despatch of reinforcements for the ;Ne\v ZV'dand divisions at the. front, considerable anxiety is being exhibiotvl by the farming community "as To whether the available supply of neeessaiy .farm labor- may hot be so seriously depleted as to interfere very gravely with the production, of fobdstv.n's and the * country industries •generally. As out readers are aware, the subject was discussed at a recent meeting of / the Marlbdrougli Farmers' Union, when Mr H. D. Vavasour, the pros: dent qf ih^t body, advocated that strong representations should be made to the trovei nment urging the letiuu from the camps of the necessnry labor and ,thu exemption, of 'farm labor from futuie ballots. Mr Vavasour's proposals were, we notice, discussed at a moeting of the Canter-. bur\ Farmens 1 Union held last weeky the criticism being • generally of an I adverse character. Mr D. Jones, [ president of, the Canterbury Union, said tint whilst he agreed', with '■ Mr I-Vavasour tlwt thf> productive power of thi> country phould be /impaired as little as possible, they had been told by tbe authorities that at the present moment man-power was more necessary than foodstuffs. They should, he said, trust the Government so far, at least, us the First Division was concerned. At the same time, he considered that it' was the duty; of the Government to make an, early and Serious pronouncement on the Second Division. In the Dunsandel district thre3-quarters of the farmers, including himself, were in the Second Division, and in another district only, two farmers were not in the Second Division. If tl.e Government was going; to practically depopulate the country and dose up the farms to a very large extent, the position should be faced, and they should be told who were to be taken and who left. Personally^ lie had never thought that .the-'Gov-ernment could .tako the Second Division, bceifnse it was the Second Division that was carrying on. the comn erce and agriculture of the country. The question was.urgent, but the financial obligations entered into In New Zealand would compel the (Jovernmpnt to lessen the number-to La sent xiiom the Second Division.

Mr G. Sheat, a prominent member of tl c Canterbury Union, took very much the sime view of the position as did Mr Jones. Mr Sheat said that to take up Mr Vavasour's attitude would be to arrog.ite the right to conduct the Mar, and he could not presume to advise the Government. It would be i.nuise for the Canterbury or Dominion executive to advise the Government on such a serious matter. lie would leave the matter as it was, for Siv Joseph Ward, and Mr Massey, in Pailiament, would probably make serious disclosures. The matter was serious, and while the wheat had been put in there was no saying who would take it out. The Minister for Agri-culture-had made a tentative promise to do his best to secure labor, but he had .immediately withdrawn on the ground that men were needed, most urgently. Sir.. James Allen had.had' a very difficult task in '' th© last ten months, and should be made a Peer for hus performance in keeping the crowd together. Other speakers declared that New Zertlar-d was being asked to "do a thing beyond its strength," and urged a complete1 co-ordination of Imperial effort. No doubt the speakers had in mih-1 the sorry figure which/ for so many months has been cut by Australia and Canada. There is, however, good ,1-enson to hope that before very long both these great Dominions wiil adopt the compulsory service system in operation in New Zealand, in winch ense it is quite poss.ible that arrangements may be made with the Imperial'authorities for a lessening of the stiuin ayoh our resources inman. ■.power. Ti-e Canterbury meeting, whilst "receiving'- the letter from Marlborough, decided 'that' the president should, when attending the Farmers' Union Conference, to be held at Wellington very shortly, secure further information as to the Government's intentions with regard oo such farm labor as may be called up unen the Second Division ballots come'to be drawn.