NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS

Otago Witness, Issue 2623, 22 June 1904, Page 7

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS

The programme of the Labour party, as 1 drawn up at the recent con- [ The Demands feivnee of the Trades and i of the Labour Councils, was pubI Labour PaHj-. lished in the Witness a ' week or two ago, and as the demands mado therein aivj to be laid before Parliament in the coming- session, I think it is necessary to draw attention .0 the-? cli-mcnds as affecting- the farming community. I do not blame the Labour party for trying to get as nvuch as tfiey can, nor do 1 Hsme the New Zealand Federation for taking slops to oppose what the-y consider to be unroa-sonabts demands. If one side gets its own way, the othe; side will go to tlie wall, but opposition lo unreasonable demands may result in a reasonable compromise hems; arrived at. and therefore I think ifc is the duty of all farmers who are employers of labour to back up the Employers' I'cder.ttioii m their attempts to oppose what joenn to them to bo an vi.due a=&umplio>i of power. 't'hc members of Parliament are supposed to. represent all c!as-c:> cf people in the colony, but tho;O inombcri oi tho Hou=e w lio repiothe. Labour party are pretty sure to be prejudiced 11; favour of tho^e who-c sent thorn to the Hou^e. and who can a!*o put them out again if they do nor obey the mandate-; of then supporters. As farmers will not combine to elect representative? who are .11 toi'e-h with faming 111toicols, they ruust depend up*>ii the good s>ansa and fairness of tho^e who do not represent any particular section of the community, ami who may be expected to stand up fcr the rights of all who have no special champions. Now, the demands formulated by the delegates at the recent conference cf the Trades and Labour pany are to be submitted' to Parliament, and if no

'. strenuous objection is made by employers, these members who are not pledged to ; support the Labour interest may think that there cannot be much" ha.rm in the proposed 1 alterations in the- laws affecting employers : j and employees, and therefore it behoves all ; j employers to- point out the unfairness of [ those demands which seem to them to Le j unfair. I know that many farmers are _so , ! indifferent and apathetic about anything . i that does not directly affect their pockets { that they do not see the red light untiL \ tho danger is too close to be avoided, and, I therefore, thoy grizzle about paying a few ! shillings per annum to their union because j they cannot see that it is going to put as I many pounds straight into their pockets [ during the year. It is true that the present demands of the Labour party more directly affect the emploj'ors in the trades and manufactures than farming employers, but, i all the same, farmers will scon feel the ! long-reaching effect's of too many rsstric- ; tions, and if labour is allowed to dominate j one class of employers, others cannot expect i to be exempt. Take, for instance, the dei mand that preference shall be given to 1 Unionists. If that became- the law ol the ■ land, no farmer would be allowed to employ a man who did not belong to a union, and it is often the case that the best workers are too careless and happy-go-lucky to ! bother about joining any union ; and if a farmer wanted a harvester, and met ono , seeking woi'k, he could not take him on ; unless he cotild show his union ticket. Afc 1 present the power of granting preference j is in the hands of tho Arbitration Court, i and they do grant it occasionally when ths : circumstances of the ease seem to warrant I it; but to make preference- compulsory £.11 j round ia a very different thing, and bound , to lead to extortionate demands in the end. A clause making preference compulj sory was introduced last session, and leso I by 45 votes to 21, but pressure is again to j be. brought to bear this session, and nt '-.lie \ \ Trades ami labour Conference referred to j it was decided that all who vote again=c it are to be marked men, and at next election their return to the House is to be opposed [ { by all possible means by members of the ' t unions. We have Scriptural authority for . I the statement that "the labourer is worthy of his hire,"' and that is true nowadays, if the labourer is able and. his wage reasonable. But if men are to be compelled to I pay a high price for bad work, we shall ! realise that times have changed. "Live end { let live" is a good motto, but it applies to employer as well as to labourer, and if the latter runs rampant in hi* demands the farmer cannot employ him and live — that is, keep solvent. Unionism can be carried to extremes, and it then carries immense power of boycotting. A union labourer applies to a farmer tor work; he must have the wage fixed by his \mion; the farmer tells him ho is not worth that wage, and therefore will not employ him. If the man be a nasty, truculent character, he can get his revenge by causing that farmer to be boycotted and unable to obtain me<si from tho union, and the fanner k, of course, debarred by compulsory preference fiom employing men outside the unicn. This may be putting . an extreme case, but it appears that, if , not checked, labour will go to extremes, j and then those farmers who do not now see any good in their own union will be very sorry for themselves. About =even years a.-jo the National Dairy Association had a return Arerage Yield prepared showing the aver- , of Dairy age milking yield of cows Coirs. supplying factories and creameries in the colony. The average was very low — only 330gaJ psr cow. A year or two ago the association, if I mistake not, announced its intention o f again procuring returns, with tho hope of disclosing an increased average yield, but so far I have seen nothing of it. There is no doubt that the a\ erage now would \ j greatly exceed 330 gallons. But it should bo , . nearly double that quantity, or else it is ' I evident that a groat many herds require I severe culling. In past years I have re- | ferre-d to dairy heids in England which included cows that ga\e up to 1000 and even 1200 gallons of milk per annum, cr, more strictly speaking, during the milking season, of, say, 10 months, cr about 300 days. A cow that ran c .i!y average a little 1 1 over a gallon of mi'k per" day n not worth ' ! keeping unless of the Jersey breed with a high percentage of butter fat. . ' A^> time goes on a sy-rcm of mixed farmj ing i- becoming more g.rnoiTl:e Vis on ally adopted, anc! all good the Farm. fauv.er- recogui-c thf advi«nbilitv of having a ■variety of products. Ie 15? only in thb w,\y that i faring of '•mall and medium can be j worked to the be«fc advantage, ensuring a ' p'olitablc. market for «ohp one -or ire-re of I the faun products. When I first began wiiting these note*, eighteen yeai? ogo, what wo no \v call "'mixed farming" was almofc unknown. Few. j[ any. sheep wer? kept 011 small farms, and 111 tlio "outh, at anyratc-, oats were grown year after year, j and little else. Dairy fariaeis do not le- , quiro to be told that pigs are an c-sential part of their live stock, but even now many j farmvrs who are not in a position to keep j a herd of dairy cows do * not sufficiently , realise tihe necessity for paying much attention to uig breeding and fattenias. OI

I course, I am aware that prices and profitsI iictuate with pigs as witb other produce, but taking things on the whole, and good times with bad times, pigs will render a good account of themselves in the yearly balance sheet. But it is not always the- fault of the I pigs if the results are not satisfactory, for ' foresight, method. c.nJ. management are ! just as requisite in. pig-keeping as in any ' other branch of live stock. The secret of , success in this mattsi is not to rush into them when prices are high, or to rush out of them when prices are low. We don't I give up grain, sheep, or cows altogether i when prices fluctuate against them, but ' consistently adhere to som>; sort of system, and endeavour by means of more careful ' management in bad times to counteract? as much as possible the decreased profits. Nothing pays if not rightly managed ami carefully looked after, and it is not doing justice to the pigs to treat them in a happy-go-lucky sorfc of way, and conclude that jf they don't pay well it is the fault of t*p pigs themselves. I need hardly say that 1 it is a mistake to keep too many or too \ few ; the number must be according to circumstances, and the quality the best pro- ■ curable, though not necessarily pedigree i animals. 1 a I The results of a practical egg-laying com- ! petiticji at Hawkeebury ' Ah Egg-laying Agricultural College, New Competition. South Wales, have ju=*t been I _ published, and should bo of interest to all poultry-keepers. The competition extended over a year, and included 228 hens belonging to 14 of the best known breed*. The competition is said to iv the. largest of tin kind that had yet teen he-Id, and should give a good idea of ike comppratdvo laying qualities of the different breeds of fowls. The food consisted of bras* and pollard ma^h, mixed with In or soup, in tho morning, green food as midday,* and ! maize and wheat alternately afc night. -The food of tlie 228 liens foa- th-> year cost £53 6s 10d. They laid a total of 29,627 egg?, valued afc £176 9s 6d, showing a profit of about 9s 6d per hen for the year, after deducting cost of labour, depreciation of hens, etc. The average results of the various breeds were as follows : —

The Imperials, which give the high average of 146.66, are described a 9 being of the Orpington type with golden markings. The Birnloes are very small blacks, weighing about 02-lb, the Ar.ror.r>s being also small birds. Tbp heaMc^i e^gs wrr» laid by the white Leghorns of the modern English type, their eggs weighing 3Coa per dozen. Andalusians also laid eggs of lhafc weight, whilo the silver Wyandottes, white Orpingtons, and Minorca? averaged 28oa per dozen. Ths black Orpingtons, buff Orpingtons, and white Wyandottes were the heaviest birds. AGRICOLA.

6 Imperials 30 White Leghorns 4S Black Orpingtons . . 24 Silver "Wyandottes .. 12 Buff Wyandotles .. 6 Birril'ees 2-1 Buff Orpingtons 6 Golden Wyandottes. . 18 White Wyaudottes .. 12 Buff Leghorns . . 6 White Orpingtons .. 12 Andalusians „ .. 12 Anccmas 12 Minorcas 228 Hens totalled .. .. Eggs. sso 4,370 0,842 3,421 1,631 810 3,227 753 2,040 1,312 670 1,338 1,303 959 23,627 Average, . . 146.6G . . 145.88 . . 1 12.54 .. 142.54 .. 135.95 .. 135.00 .. 134.45 . . 125.50 .. 113.33 .. 111.83 .. 111.63 .. IU.SO .. 109,00 82.41 . . 159.94