HAWKE'S BAY HARVESTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16128, 17 January 1916, Page 7

HAWKE'S BAY HARVESTS.

GIRLS AT WORK ON FARMS.

Wellington- people who travelled tho East Coast, via the Wairarapa, into the rich lands of Hawke's Bay during the summer season of last year, passed through miles of country from which every blade of green had been burned. This year they view a very different scene, says the Wellington Post. From Wellington to Hawke's Bay, to Napier and beyond, lie rich grain fields, uncut and in the stock, wheat and oats and barley, many bushels to the acre, and, in the Maori districts, between Waipukurau and Napier, waving, rustling fields of maize promise abundant harvests. Everywhere the cattle and the sheep wander contentedly in tho lush grasses ; many of the farms arc under-stocked. In the previous year sheep and cattle were almost given away; at the present time they are to bo bought, but at a price. Jhe grain has ripened early for the most part. In some parts of the Wai rarapa many farmers were able to cut and stack the grain before Christmas, but others, especially in the HawKe's Bay districts, were not so fortunate. The shortage of farm labour has become almost an embarrassment owing to the war. In the Waipukurau and Onga districts alone over 500 young men had left for camp in the past few months, and in some cases the grain had been lving in stook for weeks owing to the scaVcitv of labour. It san ill-wind, so it is said, "that blows nobody good, and the starlings, and other small birds, take their toll of the gram, and are making hay while the i sun shines. They settle in thousands on ! the grain, and are to be seen winging then- way gaily from on e field to another, in clouds. But the farmer owes no grudge to the starling, and the starling owes him nothing, for there is no more industrious hunter of grubs and other troublesome insects. He makes an excellent scavenger The labour difficulty, however, has been considerably minimised by the employment of girls, who, like their sisters "in the towns, have come to the rescue but this time not with pen or typewriter', but with a hayrake. The farmers employing I such labour express themselves entirely satisfied with tho results. The girls are paid at the rate of l s 6d an hour, and usually work in four-hour shifts. Some of them make excellent cheques, and thor- ! oughly enjoy the unusual work. They are | employed principally in stooking, stackI ing and haymaking, and have, in many cases, proved themselves excellent substitutes fur their "brothers under arms."