HARDEST LABOUR.

North Otago Times, Volume CVI, Issue 14025, 17 January 1918, Page 4

HARDEST LABOUR.

NO SIGNS OF SCARCITY.. \ HAVE, MEN IN'. SAxj ' -WELLINGTON; Januarf 15. •'' .' Reports that Sari reaching, AYelljiigV ton .indicate that the thieateued .yekreity of harvest' labour is' being averted. The Labour Department and the employ: niei'it agencies.are;riot beingpressedfbr harvest workers; in fact, they have ' jnsu'' in hand;'while boys who for. harvest work : have been left .vnt'Lout places. -"; ...,■'.■' ' ''• .'.-The: branchy <of the, : ; Punners J Union arc not'reporting any serious scarcity of hands,, though they werei'iiUposed to take rather a gloomy view.'of the outlook a whiJe\ago. •••. >. . The unexpected/elasticity -of-i.the labour market, as'fyr as the harvests are'concerned,'-, hits Jb-p.ejv 'one of the; niifrvf surprises of- New- Zealand 'a- war expert, eiice. Each season: since lOH'.'thei's have been predictions of; trouble,-but somehow the farmers have managed to get along in spite of the heavy enlist, mont's from,the country districts, and the'depletion 'of the labouring classes. The explanation;- presumably" is that farmers and their;families, faced''wlili ' a difficulty, 'have' overcome it. by "dint of hard and persistent'work .without appealing fqi: help. .;