Farm Employee May Be As Rare As Moa

Northern Advocate, 29 October 1948, Page 3

Farm Employee May Be As Rare As Moa

S. W. SMITH PREDICTS

(From Our Political Correspondent)

! WELLINGTON, Fri.—“ The farm employee is going to be as rare as the moa if the present wage disparities between town and country are allowed to continue,” predicted Mr S. W. Smith (0 —Hobson) during the debate on the Dairy Produce Amendment Bill in the House of Representatives yesterday. He contrasted the wage of £6/18/- paid to country workers [ for a seven-day week with conditions enjoyed by .what he called “the closed corporation of the Waterside Workers’ Union.” If service was the criterion of wages, he said, there should be a £lO wage for the farm worker, and the persent farm wage for the watersider.'

It was time there was a fight to get economic justice for farm employees who had to get up at 5 a.m. to produce cream, which was picked up later by a driver enjoying a 40-hour week and treble time if he worked on Sundays. Taking a less pessimistic view, the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Cullen) declared that there was no better place for a single man than a job in the country,and he could not understand why more men did not go there, because a single man could save on the basic farm wage, and wages in the towns were not so much higher. In the majority of cases there were extras gived to farm workers, some of whom were provided with board and food. “But.” added the Minister, “It is the lure of the picture shows, dances, cocktail parties, and the different classes of flirtation which he does not get in the country.” “Depends on what he flirts with.” suggested Mr W. H. Gillespie. WHAT BILL PROVIDES The bill pi’ovides for the reconstitution of the New Zealand Dairy Board. The present board is to go out of office on June 30 next, and the new board is to consist of eight members — one appointed by the Government, two appointed by the New Zealand Coopertiva Dairy Company, Ltd., and one elected by the dairy companies in each of the five wards, Northern, South Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington (including Marlborough and part of Nelson), and Southern (the remainder of the South Island, Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands).

Mr E. B. Corbett (O —Egmont) said that when the Government representative on the reconstituted board was appointed consideration should be given to the South Island, which under the present elective system had only one member.

The Dairy Board had given general satisfaction in recent years, but an exception was that it had not been frank enough about the recent negotiations on price adjustments. The industry, on proved costs, had asked for an increase of 3d per lb butterfat, and the commission finally gave 0.84 d.

That was causing producers some uneasiness, and the Dairy Board should now be able to throw light on the representations that were made and on the basis of this disappointing decision. FARMERS TO DECIDE Mr A. C. Baxter (G—Raglan) said it was open to question whether two separate authorities—the Dairy Board and the Dairy Products Marketing Commission—were necessary. That was a matter for the farmers

: themselves to decide, not for the Gov- ; ernment. Worker representation on the Dairy Board might well be considered by the farming industry, said Mr Baxter. Mr Baxter i said dairy farm workers were entitled to some say in the fixation of dairy produce prices, on which their wages depended. He did not know of any other industry where employer and employee normally sat down at the same table. In the main, when the agricultural workers as represented by the New Zealand Workers’ Union met the Federated Farmers in conciliation, negotiations had been carried out fairly harmoniously. “There is a strong case, where people’s wages are directly tied to the price of butterfat, for them to be entitled to some share in the management of the industry,” Mr Baxter continued. The dairy factory workers were not directly concerned with the price of butterfat, but they were an important part an the machinery of production. It would not be beyond the dignity of the farming industry to invite the factory and farm workers to be jointly represented on the Dairy Board. Mr Baxter said the advocacy to have the dairy section of the Federated Farmers represented on the board was a good idea. It would provide a direct link between the producers and the 1 board.