BONUS FOR DAIRY FARMERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22300, 24 December 1935, Page 15

BONUS FOR DAIRY FARMERS

Sir, —"Labour at Last" shows ignorance of tho farmers' difficulties. He speaks of the farmers getting a fair price for their produce. Would "Labour at Last" be prepared to work 14 hours a day, without any holidays, or relaxation, at work that would bo classed as skilled labour in the towns, for a return of £2 a month, or even less, as so many farmers are receiving, after deduction for rent, or interest on mortgages, benzine, manures, repairs to milking plant, now rubbers, etc., have been made at the factory? The farmer certainly has a house to live in, which ho has had to pay for, when buying the farm, which often has none of those conveniences considered so necessary by tho townspeople. As for cream, if the farmer has cream on tho table, he has to pay for it by the reduced returns from the factory, so many farmers have to go without. Every town house has some land attached to it, where "Labour at Last" and others could grow vegetables, if they wished to do so. At the present time there is plenty of work offering on the farms for those who really want work at a good mte of pay. In conclusion, I would point out that it was the farmers who put Labour into power, in the hope of tho Labour Party's promise of guaranteed prices, of receiving some definite relief from their present difficulties. Should those promises fail, the farmers will know what to do when the next election takes place.

W. F. Babnabd Brown.