FARM WORK AND RELIEF WORK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21967, 26 November 1934, Page 12

FARM WORK AND RELIEF WORK

Sir, —In reply to "The Levy Hurts" I would like to point out that the dairy farmer of to-day is as much on relief as tho unemployed are, what with the 25 per cent exchange, subsidised labour and subsidised manures, besides beii}g in debt to the Crown to the extent of some millions. In regard to tho single men's camps having hot and cold baths, it is a wellknown fact that on 75 per cent of tho dairy farms a bath for the farm labourer is conspicuous by its absence. Farm Worker. Sir, —I wish to add my protest to that of "The Levy Hurts." To think that our extravagant Government can squander money in providing such luxuries as hot aiitl cold baths for relief workers is outrageous when you think of tho hard times the dairv farmers are having. Ihey have to toil from daylight till dark, and no hot and cold baths are provided for them by a benevolent Government. As for work, there is plenty in tho country for those who want it, and men should not expect much money, if any at all, these hard times when a good home is provfded. A Sotjare Deal. Sir, —Your correspondent who plaintively signs himself "The Levy Hurts" reiterates the repeated and erroneous idea that relief camps are responsible for the shortage of and difficulty in procuring cheap farm labour. Tho writer has had 18 years' experience as a worker, ganger and timekeeper on railway, road and bridge construction in New Zealand, and the great majority of men in singlo men's camps is composed of such men, and not farm labourers. Even tho younger men in such camps have never milked, and would be useless in a cowshed. Having worked in two singlo men's camps and being in touch with four others, I am in a position to know that not one of these men can plough or milk a cow. Tho fact is that tho much-maligned relief worker has in the past been employed mainly on man's work in constructing railways, roads and bridges. Nono of them has served an apprenticeship in a cowshed or qualified as a cocky'h rouseabout. Just as tho construction work unfits men for farm work, so apparently does their work render farm workors unsuitable for navvying. In the past, there was always a small percentage of farm workors attracted by higher pay to construction work, but they invariably proved useless, being incapable of hard, sustained labour, and having an ineradicable habit of walking about the job and talking. If the price of butter-fat precludes payment of a wage sufficient to encourago young men to qualify for work required by the farmer, let him get to the source of the evil, and not attempt to seek amelioration of conditions by destructive criticism of relief workers and their work, neither of which has anything to do with the subject. The potential salvation of the farmer would appear to bo the great unemployed youth of the country, approfiching 20 years of age, and ineligible for relief work in camps. Navvy.