The Northland Farmer Farm Labour Problem Not Unique

Northern Advocate, 16 December 1939, Page 12

The Northland Farmer Farm Labour Problem Not Unique

We are sometimes apt to think that the difficulties that we are having on the farms with labour are unique.. This is not so.

Even in Germany, where there are greater measures of control of occupations, many, hundreds of thousands of farm workers have left their joi and gone to the cities in the last few years.

The arresting of town drift is one of the great problems of the day. It is not enough to say that it -should no: be so. One must seek the real causes and then see what remdies are available.

The causes are not simple. They are complex. There were several matters which kept labourers on the farms before. One was the farming tradition.

In earlier times, farming was not just an occupation. It was like the crafts, and had a tradition behind it. Farmers’ sons took the keenest interest in the work, and it was their ambition to follow in the footsteps of their forefathers and carry on the farming tradition.

This was the more so in England. One of the most delightful books that has been written on 'this subject is Street’s “Farmer’s Glory,” a book that every farmer and many city men, would thoroughly enjoy. The immense knowledge of these old farm labourers, each a specialist in his own department, was amazing. They knew the peculiarities of each paddock and how to deal with it to the best of advantage. They knew the individuality of every animal under their care. The ancestry of the animals was known, the strains were maintained, and there developed a breeding art that was to some extent lost when the large estates were broken up and sold, and when the day of the old farm labourer came to an end. Firstly Bushmen In New Zealand many of our farmers were first of all bushmen. They had learnt the merits of a free, out-door life, .and when the bush days came to an end, it was inconceivable that they should: go to the uncongenial bustle of the town.

They stayed on the land, many of them taking up sections that they theftfselyes had cleared of bush. Some- of them fell on harder times and, worked for their more fortunate friends., Those who were successful on their newly-won, farms had something which they could leave to their sons, and the sons';, took the land up after them. There will always be a proportion of men to whom the open spaces will appeal, and they will constitute the bulk of our farming population. No New Zealander likes to go abroad without some knowledge of farming, and even If it is only for short spells now and again, even on vacation, he likes to get out in the open;

There is, however, very noticeably, a generation growing up in the towns who know little or nothing of the farming life of the Dominion, and there is a decreasing inclination to have anything to do with it. The class, therefore, from whom farm labour can be drawn is steadily diminishing, and there is more and more a drift to the towns where a good living wage is accompanied by those pleasures that can only be obtained in the towns.

Definite Hours The town worker knows that his hours are definite, and that his weekends are his own. The farm worker has no definite hours, and he is on call, at all times and on all days of the week. Emergencies crop up that may demand working far into the night, removing stock from areas where flooding may occur, attending sick animals and so on. The wage that the farmer can afford to pay is not commensurate with the nature of the work, making a comparison with corresponding conditions in the towns. On many farms the living conditions are far from good. In the effort i to improve the property, the house is often neglected, and there are not the modern facilities that townspeople take as a matter of course. If, there, the farmhand has not a natural inclination for an open air life, there is really nothing to attract him. It certainly is true that the farm hand can save more than his town friend, as there is not the same necessity for good clothes, and there are not those extras that making living in the towns so expensive. The habit of saving is not now as firmly fixed as it was, and the general attitude is rather to spend everything and rely on the State for the provision for old age. This aspect of the matter, therefore, has not the appeal that it would have, had a few years ago. Hard Manual Labour There is still a great deal of hard manual labour on the farm, labour that by its nature would enable the worker to receive extra were he engaged in it in the town. We have then the loss of the farming tradition, the lack of the will to save, the counter-attraction of the excitement of a town, the comparatively unattractive living conditions, the small wage compared with that of the town person, to consider. All these militate against the maintenance of farm labour, and production suffers accordingly. This is one side of the picture, and it sounds rather gloomy. There is, however, another side.

It must be recognised by all thinking farmers that farming is going through a stage of transition.

It is emerging slowly to quite different things. Throughout the length and breadth of the country we are getting I electricity.

This makes the home infinitely more attractive, and it is not incorrect to say that the coming of such a boon must have some psychological effect. It not only improves the home but the outlook of those in it.

Easier for Housewife

The work of the housewife is made easier, the ample sunnlies of hot water make things better, for the farmer who can now come in and have a bath after a hard day’s work without the necessity of cutting a lot of wood and boiling up a copper. It gives the farmer and his hands a greater pride in themselves and one should not under-estimate the value of this. The farmer feels that in his home he is now the equal of his town friend. He has all the conveniences that a city man could give him.

Next come the roads. With the improvement that is everywhere evident in the roads, there is no longer difficulty in going into the towns for the day, or in driving away to the city for a holiday. The old trekking through the mud has gone for ever.

The consolidation of schools and the institution of school buses enables him to know that his children can be well educated, and that they need not spend long periods each day going to and coming from school. In the consolidated schools, it is at last possible to have a proper staff of highly trained teachers and the children can get every bit as good an education as their town mates. Healthier Conditions In adidtion they have the very considerable advantage of being brought up under healthier conditions. Where a number of children are brought together in this way, more attention can be given to games and the team spirit is thus taught. The amount of manual labour that has to be done is steadily decreasing. The advent of the milking machine and the steriliser have made this task very much lighter and it takes far less time. Shed conditions are much more congenial. Those who have put in a well-designed modern piggery have to spend very little time daily with their pigs, and the trudging through the mud with tins of milk can be entirely eliminated. The'tractor has made it possible to do as much work in a day as might previously have taken a fortnight. Ploughing, top-dressing, hai’rowing, even stumping and logging up, can be done with the tractor in an inconceivably short time.

Mechanisation In Infancy

The mechanisation of farms is, however, still in its infancy. There is still much scope for improvement. Where the farms are too small to warrant the purchase of a tractor, there are an increasing number of contractors who will do the work.

The electric fence has come to stay, and many improvements will probably be made to it yet. Farming has altogether become a much lighter job for most farmers than was even dreamed of a few years ago. A different view of housing has been born. The old whare or shack is fast disappearing and giving place to the modern bungalow. The living quarters for the men are being improved. A 1 Ithis, however, needs further impetus, and that can only be done by the provision of finance. The Government has under its consideration a housing scheme for farmers. This should be made effective as soon as possible.

New Zealand must never be permitted to develop a yokel, or peasant class.

The free independent spirit that has hitherto existed in the ranks of our farmers must be encouraged, because on that depends the future of farming as a whole.

Dispirited people can never produce high quality exports, nor can they get the best out of themselves or their farms.

Good housing is one of the essentials in the stimulation of thatTe&ding of self pride that gives that elan that a man does not otherwise possess.

Environment Counts

We talk and write a great deal about hygiene in the cowshed and piggery, and the necessity of absolute cleanliness of utensils and so on. One often wonders when one goes into some of the shacks —they are no more than this —where some farmers have to live, without any modern conveniences at all, how they can appreciate the true meaning of cleanliness when they have dirty homes. On the other hand, people who are brought up in a clean modern home cannot bear to see dirt in the sheds or on the utensils. There is a very decided connection between the two.

A good home completely changes one’s whole outlook.

Farm labour will drift slowly back when conditions are improved, but it cannot be expected to in the meantime.

There must, moreover, be preserved a better balance between the wages offering in the towns and those on the farms.

Mechanisation must proceed to cut out the hardest of the manual labour and to let the staff be less, and modern sheds and piggeries and equipment generally must improve to do away with all that tedious, hard, dirty and entirely unnecessary work that is associated with poor farming conditions.