Farmers and Unemployed

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7296, 5 August 1930, Page 8

Farmers and Unemployed

V ’ y:‘ To t!ic Editor. Sir, —Where there is a will there is a -way, and to prove same let me quote my own case:—Twenty odd years ago I was one of the many hundreds put off in Wellington alone, due to retrenchment. Thanh goodness there was no talk of a sustenance allowance then so I borrowed my train fare and left for the country. After carrying my blankets 18 miles I got work at a bush camp. My soft hands did not put down as many trees as did my mates but they did put down enough to earn besides my keep, £1 per week for the rest of that winter. What with milking, fencing, etc., I have never been out of a job since I left the office. I saved enough . for deposit on a farm, stock agents then financed me, and to-day I support my family in comfort and employ labour. They say history repeats itself,.then.let uS see how .many of the unemployed to-day will help themselves.

U Taxpayer” takes exception at

farmers paying only 35s per week. This with keep, is equivalent to over £3 5s in town and what is more ono is more likely to save when in country. The points raised by S.F. sound more like a soap-box orator than a ‘ ‘ .Scientific Farmer.” I am not the only farmer holding eleven-twelfths views. Sec Times issue of 2nd instant, Feilding Farmers’ Union meeting.

Regarding references: How many farmers ask for such? Not one in a hundred. Again, to plough, milk and fence: A willing man can learn any of these in a week. Horso breaking, shearing, or building a stack “Scientific Farmer” should know is never expected of a farm labourer. “S.F.” proposes to send me out a few men. No thanks! Such sent-out men usually want anything but work. I have always employed the genuine article, viz., men who come and ask for work and shall continue to do so. Most farmers are willing to help the genuine trier.—l am, etc., HARD WORKING FARMER.