LAND SETTLEMENT

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 79, 2 March 1929, Page 4

LAND SETTLEMENT

PROPOSALS BY FARMERS’ UNION EXPERT OPINIONS WANTED. Per Press Association. STRATFORD, March 1. Following on a discussion at the last meeting of the Dominion executive of the Farmers’ Union, a report has been prepared by the Under-Secretary of Labour, and the Dominion secretary of the union, for consideration by provincial executives of the union. The Dominion president, Mr W. J. Poison, M.P., has handed an outline of the report to the Press, so that farmers may express opinions upon it before it is finished by the union. The report states that: “Large num. bers of boys in town who have recently left school find difficulty in getting employment. Inquiries show that town employers now employ a fair proportion of boys. In skilled trades, in which apprenticeship is usual, the proportion employed is on an average of one apprentice to three journeymen. It is recognised that the general state, of trade and openings for workers in a town business depend largely on exports of farm produce for which the market may be regarded as unlimited. EMPLOYMENT ON FARMS.

“It is the intention of the Government to provide additional facilities for development of farming industries, including settlement of larger numbers of people on. the land, and it is desired to encourage employment on farms of as many workers, including boys from school, as possible. To this end arrangements are proposed by which the Farmers' Union will cooperate with the Labour Department in finding employment' on farms for boys and adults. 'No fees or other charges will be made in this scheme. APPRENTICESHIP CONTRACTS:

“It is desired to urge on farmers the desirability of taking boys under apprenticeship contracts. Such contracts may be entered into under the amended- Master and Apprentice Aot of 1920. The term of apprenticeship shall be as agreed on. say, three years, with an optional probationary period of three months to decide on the apprentice’s suitability before the contract becomes binding. The contract shall set out the branch of. farming to bo taught and the wages for the first vear, sav ten shillings a week and found. During, the remainder of the term the wages shall be those usually paid boys of the age and capacity of th 0 apprentice. Provision is made for arbitration on this point. The contract may provide that the apprentice shall agree that a portion of Ins wages, say, a half, shall be deposited with a Government official and invested to the credit of the apprentice. This would provide the apprentice with part of the amount required if he should desire to acquire a small farm of Ins own, and also ensure compliance with the terms of apprenticeship. “The boy would be allowed usual holidays, including an annual holiday. The employer is recommended to‘insure the boy against liability under the Workers’ Compensation Act. The estimated insurance premiums would be £1 14s for every £IOO wages paid. “Each provincial executive ot the Farmers’ Union will appoint-two of its members to act on a conlifiittee with a representative of-the- Labour • Department. This committee will deal with all questions arising relating to hoys in its district and will endeavour to see that various conditions of apprenticeship contracts are complied. with on both sides. ' '' "" • ULTIMATE OBJECT. VThe ultimate object of this, attempt at absorption of New Zealand boys is the settlement by them on land, including some of the pumice lands ot the thermal districts, some of the gum lands of the Auckland peninsula, and some at present unsettled land. The Government will be asked to give thegroup system of settlement a good try out with these boys by putting a group on a suitable block of land. The boys would work under the direction of an experienced supervisor until the block was self-supporting. Then it would-be subdivided * among the boys who hud worked it and purchased from the Government- under the 36 years, mortgage system at a reasonable price after each section had been loaded with the shares of the cost of manures, etc. During the period a boy 3iad been working for the Lands Department he would receive forty shillings weekly, half to be banked. The Lands Department will be asked to finance boys as under the D.S.S. Act to enable them to erect dwellings, fences, etc., and purchase stock under supervision. The department also proposed to establish farm schools on selected farms under the control of a competent authority where certain boys will, by arrangement with the local farmers, work upon the farms and become ultimately eligible to take up land under similar conditions. It is apparent, concludes the report, “that some concessions as are outlined above will have to be offered to entice our boys from I the cities."