MY COUNTRY NOTEBOOK

Otago Witness, Issue 3802, 25 January 1927, Page 25

MY COUNTRY NOTEBOOK

By

MURIHIKU.

(Specially Written fob the Witness.) .Every goods train going south these days has hay rakes; 'and mowers aboard; for this has been one of the greatest, grass seasons known to the oldest inhabitants of all country townships! The gathering of hay is a sound practice. I’hey say in the States that the Montana steer gambles its life every winter against a rustle qf dry -grass! And a good deal of the stock in Otago and Southland has a gamble on the same lines. * * * To-day most farmers who think at all. are keenly interested in whether the protective tariff should be increased or decreased. .There are signs aplenty, indicating that there will be much farmer opposition to an increase. -

Because times are not as prosperous as they' might be, everybody on the land is seeking, about for economies that might be made. Never before ■ have so many hard-pressed country folks been examining the disabilities of the farmer. “Everybody is protected but the man On the land” .is ' a frequeritiy-heard expression. So farmers are complaining about “the spoon-feeding of the unemployed”; they want to know why manufacturers should get more protection when .the farmer'cannot get any; and why workers in organised trade unions should be paid in accordance with the cost of living..

Many farmers to-day say : “Sweep away the protective tariffs—no half measures!” Others urge: “Abolish the Arbitration Court and its preference to unionists.” Everywhere where farmers - congregate these cries are being heard.

But most of our secondary industries? have been built uo under some form ot protection; to sweep away all protection in one sweep would bring untold misery to this Dominion. The Arbitration Court, lightly administered, is a better method of securing harmony in industry than by the two sides continually fighting each other.

Everywhere in the civilised world today there is- some recognition of the rights of “the'- worker.” Arbitration and Conciliation are still of the greatest value to industry, i If conditions are - pressing hard on farmers—and they undoubtedly are—then it would be better .to carefully examine the whole ground. anJS what may be successfully attacked. ‘lt is of no use wasting strength bn striving after the impossible.

We must be fair to all parties concerned. We have to realise that there is a public sentiment in favour of doing the fair and reasonable thing. We will gain nothing by exaggeration or over-statement of our case.

The Peace Treaty signed at Versailles recognised that economic wars between nations frequently precipitate an appeal to arms. In the competition to capture the trade of the world it was contended thatthe worker often suffered quite needlessly. It was also recognised that if the ordinary decencies of civilisation were to be main-tained-—the selfsame “standard of living” that we are at present discussing —then the standard of labour conditions m backward countries should be raised also. So the International Labour Organisation was called into being. * * * In Part XIII of the- Peac e Treaty there is-direct reference to the standard of living, after pointing out that the League of Nations has for its object the establishment of universal peace. And whereas conditions of labour • exist involving such injustice, hardship, Land privation to large numbers of people as to produce unrest so great that the peace and harmony of the world are imperilled; and an improvement of those conditions is urgently required; as for example: (here follows a formidable list, but included in it are the .. the establishment of a maximum working • day and week. , . th e prevention of unemployment. . . the provision ot an adequate living wage. . . recognition of '.the principle of freedom of association. . . and so on. * * ;When we know that many countries competing with Great Britain do not recognise ' one dav off -a week —not even the Sunday—it is obviouslv to. the advantage of the nations with the higher standard to get their backward competitors to establish a day of, rest. And ■when boys and girls of five years of age are engaged in carpet weaving in Persia, working from sunrise to sunset, obvious!”' it is to the good of everyone concerned if the age standard can be raised, as it has been. * * « s• • I , .When_,we consider the phrase, “rccognitipri of the principle of freedom of association” we are reminded that only recently were farm workers in Great Britain allowed to Organise. Now, if all the nations who signed: the Peace Treaty (and Mr Massey signed for New, Zealand) are agreed that “freedom of association” is in the interests of economic^- peace throughout the ..world, then it would seem foolish on the part of the iNew 'Zealand farmers to fight against the principle. But we can—arid do—strongly protest against the Arbitration Court granting an,.award -in .an industry that is so mubh. influenced ”by the fluctuations of - overseas, on the vagaries of the •weather.' And th'e Arbitration Court has recognised this, and several times —owing to the energy of the Farmers' Union in fighting the case—has refused to make an x award for agricultural workers.

“The prevention of unemployment”— how, in this country, arc we tackling that 'problem? It is questionable if we can tackle it at all in any satisfactory manner. No one likes to see men out of work. But any country that depends on fluctuating ■_world’s markets for its national income must necessarily have ups and downs in its demands for labour. And not for long can - governments, Jiving on borrowed money, spend that same money On relief works where it is freelv admitted, that full value is not obtained for every pound spent. If there were over 1000 unemployed in Auckland city last year, there may be five thousand during the coming winter. Who can suggest a workable plan for the satisfactory employment of these unfortunate people? - * * *

“The provision of an adequate living wage.”—ln this apparently simple statement is wrapped up a great deal of trouble. What is a living wdge? And at once we come to the “standards of living.” Even twenty years ago the people of Otago Jived on a different scale as compared / with to-day. Our fathers and mothers, dike Thoreau, “made themselves rich by making their wants few.” The plain, old-fashioned oatmeal has been overwhelmed by fancy “cereals” from Canada and the United States;. ordinary folk used brown sugar for most purposes, and thought nothing of it ; men smoked plug tobacco, and would have thought it madness' —as it probably is—to pay ninepence for ten cigarettes; ladies’ stockings are woollen no longer—they are not used.for warmth to-day, but for decorative purposes. I don’t object to this new. fashion —I like it—but stockings that “ladder”' instead of getting old-fashioned holes that could be darned are expensive, compared with what mother’s and sister’s used to be. We read more books and magazines, we pay more for, our newspapers, we go to more places of entertainment; than we used to. We demand more —and the cost of living goes up. It is the spirit of the age. We want ,to play more, and we want to. work less. The little houses and the simple, furniture of yesterday are of no use to young couples starting out in 1927. ’

This is all very interesting and perplexing. But what emerges is this: Our national income depends on the world prices we receive for-our products; the farmer has to accept those prices; he fust of all must collect that national income before it ton be spread among the rest of the community: he has to regulate his standard of living by his income. Now just here comes the rub ! The Arbitration Court fixes wages, according to the cost of Jiving. * * *

It appears, then, that if farmers must attack something to-day, it is no 'service to the community to sweep away the Arbitration Court: it is hopeless ■. to attempt it, The Court is far too wellestablished. But to fix wages on what it costs to live, and not on the value of the work done, is a wrong principle, and must eventually break down. ’’ To the' present writer, who is no political economist, but one who has to regulate his standard of living price of farm products, it would seem that what is wanted to-day is a reasonable inquiry into (1) where the present protective tariff has. led us. and (2) whether the cost of Trying instructions to the Arbitration Court cannot now be withdrawn.