FARMERS AND LABOUR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2985, 31 May 1911, Page 19

FARMERS AND LABOUR.

A VIGOROUS DEFENCE. (Feoh Oua Own Correspondent.)

AUCKLAND, May 25. Charges against farmers as employers of labour were challenged warmly by delegates at the Provincial Farmers' Union Conference yesterday. The following remit', forwarded by the Waerenga branch, was adopted unanimously : —" That this conference emphatically denies the charges made against the farmers with respect to labour, and records its sound conviction that the conditions of the agricultural labourers are at least equal to any of the large industries of trie Dominion, and as regards the prospects for capable and energetic men, are infinitely better."

Mr Alex. Ross, speaking on behalf of the Waerenga branch, said that industries -were now faced with a coming scarcity of labour. The farming industry, being progressive, would feel the pinch more than others. To make things worse, men who ought to know better went about the country stating that anyone who worked for farmers was in for a bad time. " The farmer," said Mr Ross, " is charged with three cardinal sins—(1) That he gives his men poor accommodation; (2) that he pays small wages; and (3) that he works his men long hours. The accommodatiSn provided on farms," said Mr Ross, " was Just as good, and very often much better, than that provided in the towns. As a general rule men had not to work long hours on farms; their hours were regulated just as those of men in the towns were. He also denied the charge in regard to low wages on farms. Workmen in'the towns, on the other hand, kept up the old cry that they were only able to make, things meet."