LABOUR ON FARMS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 168, 15 June 1940, Page 9

LABOUR ON FARMS.

INEXPERIENCED MEN. DETAILS OF SUBSIDY SCHEME. Details of the wages and conditions of the Government’s subsidy scheme,, under which wage subsidies are made to farmers for the engagement of inexperienced labour for farm work, are announced by the employment division of the Labour Department, the special allowance is also made where experienced married men are engaged but where married accommodation is not yet available oh the farm. •The scheme is as follows: — The subsidy on wages applies to all inexperienced men aged 20 and over, whether registered for relief purposes of not, engaged through an office of the Labour Department (Employment Division) or of the Social Security Department, which acts lor the Labour Department in all but. the four main centres. The men engaged under this scheme may be employed on any class of farm work with no restrictions whatever. Rates of subsidy, fbr single or married men for the first six months, provide that experienced men receive no wages subsidy and 12s Cd a week house allowance, and that inexperienced men are to bo subsidised on wages to the extent of 30s a week, with 12s 6d bouse allowance. In the second six months the only alteration is that the subsidy on inexperienced men is reduced to 15s a week. , - House allowance is paid only to married men, where married accommodation- is not available and they are separated from their families. \ The farmer is required- to pay at least award wages, plus keep, or an allowance in lieu of keep. On a dairy farm the keep, or cash payment, is £1 a week, and the wages for men 21 or over, £2 12s 6d a week, men aged 20 receiving £2 6s a week in addition to keep. On a sheep farm the keep allowance is 17s 6d a week, wages for men 21 or over £2 5s a week, and, for men aged- 20, £1 19s 6d a week. In each case the farmer will, of course, also pay house allowance of 12s 6d to married men for whom married accommodation is not available. Any case of dispute will be referred to the local branch of the Farmers’ Union for examination and a,report to the Labour Department- , The' farmer is required to pay or provide transport to the farm, if the worker has to travel not more than 30 miles from his place of residence at the time. If the distance exceeds 30 miles, the Labour Department provides transport to the point nearest the farm served by public transport services.

Application may be • made on the appropriate form obtainable from the Labour Department in the four main centres, and Social Security Department offices elsewhere. '