THE LABOUR PROBLEM.

Southland Times, Issue 23047, 14 November 1936, Page 14

THE LABOUR PROBLEM.

Last season the difficulty of obtaining farm labour was a real one. The supply has by no means been plentiful since and farmers are already worrying about the prospects for the coming busy season. Wages are high enough in all conscience, they consider, and they do not relish having to bid against each other for what labour there may be a few months hence. It is a fact, as the Hon. W. Lee Martin has said, that a big proportion of the unemployed is not fitted for farm work, but there are undoubtedly men with farming experience and the question of what has happened to them will inevitably be raised when farmers are putting their case to the Minister. The swing from country work to the cities has been marked and the only possible conclusion seems to be that it has been caused by the more attractive conditions and pay of public works. Skilled labour is essential to the farming industry, and the farming industry is vital to New Zealand’s wellbeing. Therefore the attitude of farmers who hold that the responsibility for the present position rests with the Government is excusable. Costs have increased sufficiently without undue competition for a share in what labour there is available. The Minister has expressed his intention of releasing from public works men who have had experience of harvesting, which in itself supports the argument that men have been enticed away from the land. But an incongruous state of affairs has been reached. The Dominion’s agricultural and pastoral production must be maintained, but labour is at a premium, while public works are being found everywhere to absorb unemployed However, Mr Lee Martin’s suggestion of co-operation between the Government and farmers’ organizations may lead to some means of enforcing the necessary balance when seasonal work makes its demands. The attitude of farmers generally is that “something will have to be done about it.” They are looking to the Government to move, and if conditions are as difficult as they were last season, there will be repercussions.