UNEMPLOYED ON FARMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22004, 10 January 1935, Page 12

UNEMPLOYED ON FARMS

OPERATION OF 4A SCHEME SEASONAL DISCONTINUANCE ' [from our own correspondent] PUKEKOHE, Wednesday The seasonal discontinuance of the 4A unemployment relief scheme has started. This year the suspension applies as from January 5, but in previous seasons it has taken place as early as November.

The scheme is for the employment of relief workers on developmental work on farms. In the case of a single man the farmer provides the worker with his keep and pays him at least os a week cash, the cash payment being augmented by 10s a week from the Unemployment Board. In the case of a married man, the farmer provides a house or other suitable accommodation for the worker and his wife and family, and pays him a wage agreed upon, the wage being augmented by the Unemployment Board to the extent of 15s a week, plus 2s 6d a week for each of the worker's children under 16 years. About 29 men on the Pukekohe register of unemployed, which embraces a large area of the surrounding country, are affected by the suspension. About five are married men, the remainder being single. In most cases the farmers have arranged to keep the men on, paying them wholly themselves. Thev" are being employed in seasonal work such as harvesting and milking. A great deal of valuable work on the farms has been accomplished under the scheme, but the board considers that, with the big normal demand for farm labour that develops as the season approaches the flush, and continues until the autumn, there are months when the continuance of the scheme is not warranted.

At present in Franklin there nppears to he a good demand for single men for farms. An employment office has been opened by the Labour Department in a building opposite the post office at Pukekohe, and to-day there were more farmers applying for single men than there were single men offering. On the other hand, married farm workers are finding it fairly difficult to obtain positions.