HOLIDAY LABOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20762, 3 January 1931, Page 12

HOLIDAY LABOUR.

REFLECTIONS OF BROWN. A I . THE COW DEFIES THE LAW. MESSAGE TO THE FARMERS. "I would like you," said Brown, as he lioed hopefully among tho beans, "to address a word of greeting to our friend the farmer, particularly the dairy farmer. When tho city makes holiday part of it has a. hurried glance at tho paddocks wherein a large number of men and women earn the bulk of tho country's revenue. "But they do not see tho real work being done. That they take for granted. 'As a matter of fact, they do not allow the thought of toil to invade their senses because tho holidays are on. A fewpeople go to make holiday on farms, but how the dairying section of it. finds timo and energy to entertain them I do not know. Tlicso visitors, of course, see what is going on, and some attend tho milking shed with great regularity, and rather enjoy tho novelty of reaping the cream harvest. A Week of 14 Milkings. "The drawback is that this sort of harvest has to lie reaped twice every day. Do wo of the city pause to consider tho fact that there are 14 milkings every week cf a long season, and that the majority of the dairying people personally carry out the task without a break, and that their day of relentless duty is stretched out to embrace about 14 hours of tho clock? In the holidays there may be a pause for a little, outing between times, but they can never feel that senso of freedom experienced by people who can lock their office door and thank heaven they will not use that key again for three days or three weeks, as the case may be. "Tho city folk think of an ordinary week's work as one of five and a-half days. If they belong to the trading order which does not have a long Christmas holiday they nevertheless have two days each week, with a week-end of a day and a-half thrown in. "Cows', however, cannot bo legislated out of their 14 milkings a week habit. The Factories Act is defied. The stupid animals know no law. They even clamour 'to be milked when, in the Hush of the season, their bags become heavy with the stuff that pays for tho bread of a large portion of the population. And those who toil on the dairy farm must bow to her ladyship the cow, tyrant and toil-maker. Comparative Dawns. "So," said Brown, "please address a few observations on these lines to the dairy farmers and their wives and their children, who rarely escape the necessity for pulling their weight—and then some. Wo of the town really know nothing about) tho endless task they have. Even at this time of year many of them are out of bed and beginning their work in the grey light of dawn and the giey dawn is a very fine time of day if one happens to be on holiday and aftei about '4O gallons of sleep' awakes in some place of rest and beauty and proceeds to Ewim or catch a fish, or produce some fragrant wood smoke below a black billy. I've known some fine dawns myself," said Brown, " and. perhaps the finest, from the artist's point of view, was one on which my friend the enemy came a ■trifle close with his sniping. But that is by }the way. To appreciate a fine dawn one must never have a surfeit of them, and that is just the trouble with the cow ' cockies.' Rain, hail or fine they have to milk the cows, and, although thev may havo some compensations in life, compensations which do not loom large when prices are low, they are tied to the wheel and have to endure great monotony. Qualified Compensations.

" "We say that change is rest, but here there can be no change. I will admit thai a man living close to the soil, particularly if he is a farmer at heart, gets n kind of satisfaction out of life that is not always found by one who is citybound and cannot lead so natural a life. One of tlie great moments in the life of on old farmer of my acquaintance is when he gets I'iis crop safely stacked, but there is a world of difference between a grain farm and a dairy farm. ■ ' And remember this, too; we who can escape from duty, if only for two or three days at a time, have the chance of forgetting the worries of bad trade, particularly if we have company. But tho fact that it is New Year is hardly powerful enough magic to take the farmer's mind off financial worry, find whether it be Christmas Day or New Year's Day he is just as liable to be wondering if the toil is going to cover expenses. And so," said Brown, " give them a word to tell them that they are not entirely forgotten by their friend the stranger. " At the same time you might drop a Jine also to all folk engaged in duties ■which cannot stop, even though the calendar finishes its circuit. lam thinking of dairy factory employees and policemen, of railway and tramway people, of firemen nnd engineers in power-houses and refrigerating stores (it would be a sad blow to the farmers if those plants closed for the holidays), of doctors and nurses, and hospital attendants, of seafaring men, not forgetting those who run the ferries and the pleasure fleet, of milkmen and bakers, arK |—oh, there are scores more." " What about all tho folk who produce newspapers," askrd Brown's friend. "I thought that their lives were one ]ong song," said Brown. y