WAGES OF FARM LABORERS

NZ Truth, Issue 161, 18 July 1908, Page 4

WAGES OF FARM LABORERS

The average big employer .finds it objectionable to give a reasonable \ya__e, hut tlie wealthy squatter views the prospect with especial bitterness. , In the Canterbury farm laborer's djspute before the Arbitration Court Fat's representative protested frantically that the -enforcement oi an award woluld be found to be impracticable, moreover,, it was unfair, as unlike employers m other Industries, the farmer was unable to pass . the increased wages on to the local consumer. The farmer's markets were outside the country. Most Pat persons m other industries deny • the fact that they pass the increase on 'to the consumer, or conceal the fact as much as possible m their own interests, as being an evasion of the spirit' of the law ; and the wail 'of the Canterbury wool kings because they haven't an opportunity to be equally dishonest is pathetic m the extreme. In the Arbitration Court these run-holders, who literally live on the fat of the land, sheltered themselves behind tbe struggling small farmei, who would be debarred from employing labor if it- were made more costly than at present. The intense aiixiety of the rich sheep-oWner for the small struggling farmer is one of the astounding features of the dispute, formers, it was contended, will ceusc gram-growing if the cost of labor lis increased, and the assumption is that the land will remain idle. As the soil cannot profitably be held without being worked this may be a blessing m disguise, as when disposed of

it mil be purchased by persons who may pat it to some use. But these represent* atSohs are all tytinkum. The farm laborer is the. most misera-hly-paid worker m the Dominion, aad. the coddled fanner, with prosperous markets. State assistance, machinery free of Customs duties, absurdr }y low railway freights, grading assistance, '.Government veterinarians, road-mak-ing assistance, and the rest of it, is on tlie pest' wicket iii New Zealand. Yet he is always _M>w__k_g. In the Gourt, Eat made al considerable month over the fact that he keeps some of his men (only some of them.) over the slack pentad In order to haye them on hand during the 1 busy time. Yet the bloated monopolist is quite .indignant if it is pointed, out that the labqrsr makes enough for his ernplayer m the busy time to keep that painper■ed person and his family m iujcurious .comfort, with a motor car and hunters, . and an occasional trip to Hingland as > side trimmings to an existence of ease and idleness. ' A farming individual is merely a "person" 'until he has had a trip to Hipgland. It is about time the Arb-rtratipn Court stepped, m and effected a niqre eqpaal division of the spoil.