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Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 858, 9 November 1916, Page 8

Reports from .the country indicate that the problem of rural labour is becoming more and more acute. Shearing will be very late on some stations owing to the difficulty of getting muslerers, and it is becoming obvious that another year of war will severely restrict the output of some of the products that are regarded as essential to victory. To the casual observer the large crowds of men who can get away from their work without difficulty to attend race meetings suggests'that a lot of labour is going to waste somewhere, but that does not help the farmer very much. North Canterbury is lull of instances at present, where farmers having sent their sons away to the war, are finding it impossible to work their properties successfully for want of assistance. The wheat crop promises to be good but il will be difficult to get it in for the same reason. What is really required is some scheme for taking stock of the labour left in the country, and for employing it in the necessary trades to the best advantage. If remains lo be seen what attitude the Exemption Boards will adopt towards the agricultural and pastoral industry, but it seems to us that it is time to ask the Imperial authorities which they need most —men or wool and produce? They cannot continue to gel both to the same extent as al present. In England men had lo be sent hack from the. trenches to do necessary work at home, and we do not want any similar bungling in the Dominion. New Zealand being in the main, a country that devotes most of its energies to the raising of primary products, and has no surplus labour to speak of at any lime, cannot send any large proportion of its manhood away without seriously affecting its producing capacity. While it is very satisfactory from the patriotic point of view to maintain our reinforcements at their full strength, some consideration will shortly require to be given to the question of whether we are making the best possible use of the resources at our command.