PRESENT AGRICULTURAL LABOUR.

Otago Witness, Issue 3085, 30 April 1913, Page 14

PRESENT AGRICULTURAL LABOUR.

Requiring a man to do some odd jobs about the larm, a well-known Taieri resident endeavoured to engage one of the local township residents, but was told that he had accepted contracts to lift potatoes, .which would occupy all his time for one month at least, and the price he demanded and got was 6d per bag. As 8-ton to 10ton crops are the rule rather than the exception in his neighbourhood, he could lift from 25 to 30 bags daily, after the potato digger, without distressing himseu very much. This would mean that he would earn from 12s 6d to 15s daily. Tlusame workman stated that for casual jobs throughout the year he received 8s per day, and had the opportunity of earning much more than that at shearing time, harvest, thinning turnips, and lifting potatoes. An otter of 30s par week all the year round and found was scornfully declined, and when invited to state what it would pay him to accept, he thought that £2 per week and his keep would probably bring him in as much as he was earning. When asked if he would accept that amount he declined, slating that he would sooner take ms chance, that tnere was abundance of work offering, that no one need lose any time during the year, and that he liked a day or two to himself now and again. A farmer employing four men would therefore have to earn £SOO per annum to pay for labour before securing anything for himself, and even then would have the greatest difficulty in obtaining a supply of efficient labour. The farm is just as dependent upon labour as any factory, for it is really the greatest factory in the land, and although machinery has done much to lower the cost of production, it has to be directed by expert hands. Hence the condition of farm labour deserves as much earnest consideration, if not more, than any other department of industry. It is quite evident that if the right kind of labour is to be attracted to our shores, such figures should be widely circulated. If the British farm labourer, receiving an average of 18s to 20s per week, knew that he could earn twice as much in this Dominion as he could at Home—for the amount stated includes a good part of his living—he would seriously consider his position. As the year goes on the farmer begins to study his position, and determine what work he will have done during the coming year. With the approach of the sowing season, such things have to be decided as how much land he will have in grain, green crops, and hay, what quantity of stock he will be able to keep and turn over profitably, and what amount of labour he can profitably employ. Such questions are decided annually. If he finds that the cream is taken off his return by extortionate rates of labour in one department, he will drop that one out of his programme. He knows that the success of his calling depends on having all his work done in season—his cultivation done in good time, his sowing, harvesting, thrashing, realisation—all effected when his crops are ready for treatment. The essence of his calling is to take time by the forelock, and hold on to it with a vyce of steel. That is simply impossible when labour is precarious, and’ the farmer wants to know why a stream of suitable labour cannot be tapped and directed to our shores, where it is so much needed. The policy of the labour hall, which is largely tenanted by men with imaginary gnev ances, to make a close corporation of this country, for the benefit of the present labourer, requires combating strenuously. What is wanted is a greater spirit of combination, fur in advance of any now existing, to break down the tyranny of trade union domination, and enable the farmers in this country to continue to compete against these of other countries, with cheaper labour and closer markets. If properly organised, they could, by vitue of their numbers and calling, control and dominate every other trades union in the country.