AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORLA WORKERS' NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2785, 31 July 1907, Page 25

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTOR LA WORKERS' NOTES.

By Stbtx-Jjokiham,-Readers of these notes will remember that Mc;,Jqs£3ca Sim, president The Arbitration of. the Arbitration Court, C»ort. informed- the -"representative ! of the Qt&go . yid Southland Musterers' .Ufiidn &t KoxxTurgh last February that tbe u-ourt might -be expected to sit in Dunedaf-in.- iM 1 test week -of June or the first week in -July- ,His Honor ia already a month out in nis reokoning, and, ac far as can be learned, indications at present are not favourable to the court sitting in Dunedin for at least another month. The Canterbury Agricultural labourers' dispute is set down for hearing at Ohristchuroh on the Sth of August. This being the first dispute in connection with farm labourers heard by the court, wo may expect that care will be taken by the court to master and fully understand . all matters that may come before it; consequently there is every reason to believe ' the case will take fully a week before it is disposed of, after which there are other disputes to be dealt with. Then there is i a compensation case to be heard in Timanij. I and possibly the breaches of awards may; | be taken in o«m«ru before the court conies on to Dunedin; either this or the oourt, after dealing with the applications to en- ! force awards in Dunedin, will return to ; Oamaru to enforce awards there before ; taking the disputes filed in Dunedin. As • there are- 111 applications to enforce awards j in Dunedin, and 16 or 17 in Ocunaru, the . muflterero and shepherds may rest contented that their "dispute Will not be die- : posed -of before the fLrat week in Septem- . ber, or about two months later than his | Honor led us to expect. "The delay must be borne with patience, but it is devoutiy to be wished that some method will be devised .by which the court wiH be able to cope with the work. The writer has on previous occasions voiced the complaints of farm AecomaiodatUn labourers regarding the in- /°' rr * rin ferior accommodation farlabourers. mew provide for them Words of advice to farmers are apparently unheeded. If farmers will continue to ignore their men's claims for better accommodation, the men will have, to look in another direction and call in a power that will be able to compel farmers to house their employees in decency md comfort. The farmers of Otago end Southland might do worse than comply with thei* men's request to build fireplaces in the hute. This is all the Otago farm labourers asU, for, so far as the writer can learn. I> notice "Agricola," while he admits thati' "proper provision is not made as a rule for the men's lodging," blames the men J themselves for the state of things that exists. He says, inter alia, that "roughing it" is largely the men's own fault; and I as far as their bonks are concerned, hq 1 asserts that "it is entirely their own faulty if these are not made comfortable." Now* 1 as one knowing a good deal about this subject, the writer positively asserts that there ie not a permanent farm labourer" in Otago or Southland who would sleep > more than one night in an uncomfortable bunk if it were in his power to alter it.As a matter of fact, farm workers take the first opportunity after arriving on a farm to nn&lre iboir btuue coxxi£ortatl*le. my experience I have never yet seen a farm worker's bunk that had an untidy op uncomfortable look- about it. It is not the bunks the workers complain of, nor, , have they any serious complaints to make about the huts, where there are huts. It is of those farms whose owners expecb their men to sleep in the grain shed, the i^atable loft, or the unlined feed-house that ! the men complain. "Agricola" in his notes ' last week said that "fires about any steadI ing are a continual source of trouble."He then goes on to «ay: "There is so much straw and chaff lying about in the beet-kept farm buildings, and the men's hut is no exception to the rule, that the J whole place requires as much care as a j store of kerosene." The men say that their; j hut should be an exception to the rule. I Why should men who have done a hard I day's ploughing, perhaps in a drizzling rain, be asked to camp in a hut lumbered up with straw, chaff, or a few tons of decaying potatoes? The men ask the farmers to' provide for them a fireplace in their hute. They complain that for weeks at a time they have to work in wet weather, and very often sit shivering in their damp clothes from teatime till it is time to cover their horses and turn them out for the night, only to rise next morning and get into the damp, helf-frozen clothes they took off the night before. Were a fire provided, the men argue, they could dry thei^ wet clothes, and in other ways the comfort a fire would afford them would be incalculable. As to the suggestion that when a fireplace is provided the fire is usually left to take care of itself when the men' go out to work, and always proves a fertile source of danger and anxiety. I can onlj, , say I know of several farms where the* men's huts are provided with a fireplace. I and I know of a large number of hute I in addition with fireplaces in them, but 1 | have never so far heard of any accident |by fire. As a matter of fact, men never ' light a fire in their huts of a morning, buti in the evening on leaving off work. If farmers are desirous of getting on peaceably ! with their men they will be wise to takethe advice of "Agricola" and other writers on rural topics, and provide decent lodging accommodation fox theif men, or fos a certainty the attention of Parliament will be directed to the question, if it has not already been done. It wae repeatedly stated in these notes, in reply to questions, that New; Shearing Zealand shearers need noli ia ike fear any trouble on the C«nmniruUk. side this 9eASOTi- Th^ statements have proved correct. The shearing is at the date of writing just about finished in Que*>nelajid, and commencing in New South Wales and South Australia, and there are no signs of trouble at pre«pni or brewing for the future. The Federal Arbitration Court has given it« award, fixing the price per hundred at 22s

end 245, thus giving the men a rise of from 2s to 4-s per hundred, or within 3s in some cases and Is in others of what the xnon demanded. That the men will accept this the writer has not the slightest reason to doubt, and in consequence shearing will progress in the Commonwealth States under much more peaceful, conditions than hitherto. i In my next notes, appearing in the Witness on the 14tb of August, a Early Bhcdi lis£ of sheds starting the *■ . . last ' week in Ootober and, New Zealand. in November will be publiahed, with ' the number of sheep an average shearer may be likely to take out of them. REPLIES TO CORRESPONDENTS. " Rabbiter," Cromwell. — I cannot undertake to address a meeting of rabbiters so far from Dunedin. much as I would like to do so. "Rouseabout." — Certainly not. Besides, my experience of shearers leads me to form «. different opinion. Do you forget the ';orven Hills affair, or did you ever hear J it?