FARM LABOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21876, 11 August 1934, Page 15

FARM LABOUR

Sir, —Writing on farm labour, "Fair Play for All" states that his main contention was that "honest labour was worthy of more consideration than is usually handed out to the farm labourer," which, L venture to state, no one will deny. But I seem to remember that most of his previous letter was in defence of his conviction that the average "cockie," receiving lOd per lb. butter-fat could, and should, pay his farm employee £2 10s per week and found, and still leave himself £5 per week "to play with!" Well, even if such things were even remotely possible, why refer to the labourer's £2 ]os as a fair wage, and his boss' £5 (presumably to share with his wife) as "to play with?" Also, 1 have tvorked on several places, and 1 have not found that the men do "nearly all the work." and even if they did, what, after all. were they there for? It never worried me then if the boss left it all for weeks—in fact, 1 rather liked it, and if it got too solid, well, the remedy was in my own hands. Of course, no one does expect anyone, least of all the farm hands, to suffer for the foolhardiness of the man who. rather than be a farm hand all his life, tries getting on his own as soon as he can rake up enough to get started, and in any case, how do they? As for "placing his neck in a noose, etc.," to buy milking plant on time payment, I would remind our friend that a noose, judiciously placed, lias been known to save a man's life by keeping his head above water in which he was in imminent danger of drowning. As to the alleged impossibility of finding a man capable or willing to take an interest in a farm for £1 per week —quite apart from the fact that I know quite a few who definitely are doing so —1 fail to see what difference the wage makes in that case. II a man is not interested in his job at £1 per week 1 claim that a rise to £2 10s would not make him one little bit more so. Certainly he might be more satisfied —he might be very careful to keep his job—but you can't make him really interested. On the other hand, there must be hundreds to whom wages are not quite everything—who like to see things done decently, and value a genuine pat on the back more than a few more "bob" a week. They are the farmers of tomorrow —they'll may be not get any more "pats" than we do to-day, but. they'll "carry on," and good luck to 'em ! Jack Sherie.