SHORTAGE OF LABOUR

Taranaki Daily News, 23 November 1932, Page 6

SHORTAGE OF LABOUR

CAMP LIFE VERSUS FARM WORK. NORTH TARANAKI POSITION. That there was a definite labour shortage in North Taranaki and that the conditions at the unemployed camps were not as distasteful as sometimes made out were the opinions expressed by Mr. H. E. JBlyde at a meeting of the New Plymouth Unemployment Committee yesterFarmers were finding it extremely difficult to secure necessary labour, said Mr. Blyde, and it seemed an anomalous position that the Unemployment Board should be paying single men in camps when labour was offering on the farms and which, if it could be engaged, would assist the Unemployment Board s funds. He knew of farmers who had actually been to camps -to try to get men, but they had preferred the camp and 10s. a week for an eight-hour day rather than 12 hours a day for £1 a week. The opinion Was expresesd by other members of the board that farm work was evidently not very popular with single men, and that although some said ramp life was abhorrent to them, it was preferred to work on a farm. It was decided to write drawing the attention of the Unemployment Board to the fact that labour is unobtainable, particularly in dairying districts, and that the committee feels the position of single men therefore cannot be so acute,. otherwise there would be more applications for country work available.