LACK OF WORKERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22615, 31 December 1936, Page 8

LACK OF WORKERS

PRODUCE GROWERS M UNABLE TO FILL ORDERS PROBLEM AT PUKEKOHE " BURDEN OF HIGHER COSTS [from our own correspondent] PUKEKOHE, Wednesday The shortage of labour ha\s become acute not only in dairy farms, bufc, produce-growers in the Pukekohe district are finding serious difficulty in obtaining labour to enable them to fill orders. Before Christmas green peas grown to supply the ready market could not bo taken off the plants owing to a dearth of pickers. Growers and dig. tributors co-operated in an endeavour to obtain labour, and one merchant went as far as to send several of his daughters to help in the picking. Never: theless, a much larger output of peas would have gone into consumption had there been more hands to gather them. Potato growers this week are having a similar experience. " I could hav9 sold 300 hags of potatoes nn Monday and yesterday," said a prominent Puke, kohe farmer, who engages in cropping and dairying, when discussing the problern to-day. " However, I could £et no labour for digging at all on Monday. Three men came yesterday and worked for about six hours, and I got 8-'' bags away. The continuous rain to. •day has prevented the men going on." * Bisk of Deterioration This grower said that two Maoril who had been digging for him during. Christmas week were paid off on Christmas Eve with £4 5s each for threa days' work. They promised to return on Monday morning, but did not do m>. In addition to the risk of deterioration of the potatoes through warm rain causing them to sprout as they lay ia the ground, he was also suffering tio loss of the ground for replanting for; autumn-grown seed. " Labour is very hard to get and is very dear," said a well-known resident of Pukekohe Hill, who relies on crop, ping entirely for a, living. " With tha very low prices for potatoes this season and the high cost of getting them to market, growers are faced with bankruptcy." Use ol Machinery From to-day's price of £4 los a tooj he added, growers had to meet charges of approximately £-3 a ton for bags, digging and transport to rail. Digger? had been content with od and 6d a sugar bag in past years, but this season the range had been from Sd to 2s 4d. Last year, ag late as November 19, he was selling potatoes at £l7 a ton, f.o.r. Pukekohe, while the Wellington market touched £23 10s. This year, the price had fallen to £6 a ton f.o.r. Pukekohe by November 11. Other growers are . endeavouring to overcome the labour difficulty by installing machinery. One has installed a machine digger .and purchased a tractor to draw it. Another also has a digging machine, and is using horses as the motive power. Some say that ia future seasons they will crop only as large an area as their own families can handle without the employment of outside labour.