PRODUCERS' TROUBLES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17881, 8 September 1921, Page 6

PRODUCERS' TROUBLES.

FREEZING, WORKS LABOUR. .. EXORBITANT , DEMANDS. * farmers urge© TO ACT.

FEILDINQ. Wednesday. Soma very plain speaking wae indulged in at the annual meeting of the Feilding Farmers' Freezing Company by Mr. Hugh Burrell, chairmen of directors, who said the cost of preparing and marketing primary products Was beyond all reason, and the question of labour Was without doubt the most serious before the producers today. Present costs simply meant bankruptcy for farmers, and bankruptcy lor the farmer meant bankruptcy for the Government.

Instances were given by him ef the way cost* had increased. The total cost of handling and marketing meat, he said, was no less than 4d per U>. e.i.f. To sell ex store London would cost another jd, making the total charges 4id per lb. What prospects, he asked, had the farmer of surviving under this tremendous burden?

A pelt which to-day was worth 2s lOd cost no less than 3Jd to prepare and market, while tallow, valued at £34 per ton, cost £25 to market, notwithstanding a £1 12s 6d per ton reduction in freight Wool coat 6£d to prepare end market. He had received a cablegram the previous day to the effect that 197 bales of woo] ex Athenic averaged 9Ad per lb. Thus it cost 6£d to obtain 9id, making Bhpe wool only worth 3d per lb. on the sheep s back. In face of this they were in receipt of demands from the freezing workers for an increase of 33 1-3 per cent, Over the rates paid in 1917. The minimnm rate of pay demanded for unskilled labourers was 2s 6d per hour and slaughtermen 45s per 100 sheep ad lambs. Greasers and firemen were demanding 24s per shift of eight hours or part thereof. Something had to be done, and that quickly for they had no guarantee that the Arbitration Court would not grant these demands. In his. opinio! the useful days of the Arbitration Court had passed, and the whole Act, with its extravagant and costly administration, should be abolished. He could see nothinc for it but for the freezing companies of the Dominion to resist these exorbitant demands, and in the event of the men refusing to operate the works, as happened last year, the farmer* must be prepared to operate the works ihemselveß or face ruination. There was no alternative, it was one thing or the other.