FARM NOTES,

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13479, 19 July 1907, Page 8

FARM NOTES,

COUNTRY WORK FM S. Thi'i-e is a very uivsoUlcd h-'Ahv^ ai'umgst Wairarapa farmers \\ rites tl'r X.Z. Times correspondent, at the indications of the formation vi Farm Li'Uourers' Unions, and the petition now boing circulated in the district asking for the repeal of tlio Arbitration and Conciliation Act, as applied to tlio country, is an attempt to stay the tide of unionism on farms. At the samv time, Wairarapa farmers are not very hopeful that their petition will have any especial power on the Government, and they, therefore, console themselves with th'p fact that they have put forward their protest, and that, come what may, tlio whole business will have io be dealt with in a broad light, otherwise the measure will be unworkable. A well-known dairy farmer expressed tho opinion that it would be impossible for dairymen to pay their workers from the time they commenced in tho morning till when they knocked off in the evening. The men, ho said, were not employed the full time, and the only way ho could suggest was to follow the system of tho Government with reference to tho railway servants, namely, allow tho men time olf for all overtime worked. There is no doubt that the farm labourer has a better time than he had fifteen years ago; still there are even now places in Nov.' Zealand where this is not so. Another farmer declared that farm labourers were the worst class of labourers to . deal with. They Ijad been proved failures at everything else. This statement cannot be said to refer to the men employed on small farms, who are mostly honest and industrious, and waste no time in getting on to a farm of their own. Tho remark may be true with reference to station life, where tho conditions aro invariably against the worker. It is hard to say Kow the station-holder will grapple with the Arbitration Act; but it is almost certain that it will increaso his wage list. There- has been occasional talk of manufacturing butter boxes of paper. Mr A. McFarlane, of Wairarapa, a director of the National Dairy Association, heard something when in Melbourne of a company being established with this object. Tho cost of these boxes is estimated at about 6d. but many think the cost will be much greater, while they will bo heavier than white pine boxes. Mr McFarlano estimates that white pine boxes will be considerably cheaper in the end. He is convinced Australia will have- to depend for many years on our white pine. In view of this, he thinks the Government should put a duty on all white pine exported from the Dominion. « All sorts <«f livo stock are reported to bo doing well at Raglan, though they are not getting very much assistance from tho turnip crop, which is light almost everywhere this season. The farm labourers' dispute, which has occasioned so much stir in all parts of Canterbury, is to bo hoard by the Arbitration Court at Christchurch on August sth.