SEASONAL WORK

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22477, 12 January 1943, Page 2

SEASONAL WORK

Army Labour Scheme Rate Of Payment Criticised OAMARU, January 11. To provide essential farm labour adequately and promptly, Army camps are to be established in farming districts. The men are to be quartered, fed and transported to their work by the Army. They will receive Army pay, the difference between that and the award rates paid by the farmer to go to the men’s camp funds. The foregoing scheme had been discussed at conferences in Dunedin last week between the Hon. J. G. Barclay, Minister of Agriculture, the military authorities, and representatives of production councils, and although routine details have yet to be completed, it has been adopted in principle. When the Minister met North Otago farmers on Saturday evening at a public meeting convened by the Farmers’ Union, the Mayor of Oamaru (Mr J. C. Kirkness) criticised the proposal to pay the balance (over Army pay) of the men's wages to the camp funds. It seemed to be most unfair, he said, and had already been adversely commented upon by soldiers at present engaged in farm work. The Minister: But the men will reap the benefit. Mr Kirkness: Not directly. The Minister: At any rate, details have not yet been completed. I can assure you the money will not go to the Army funds, but to the camp funds of the men themselves. Mr Kirkness: It just means that soldiers will receive Army pay when the men alongside them are paid the full award rates. It is hardly fair. (Cries of “Hear, Hear.”). The Minister: There's another side to that story. The men in camp, with their allowances, receive equal pay to the men outside, and in the case of some married men, they are better off. They are “found,” there are no tax deductions, and their clothes are provided for them. In reply to the Minister, Mr Kirkness said he thought it an opportune time to discuss an anomaly that had been pointed out to him. Delays Criticised Mr W. Malcolm, chairman of the North Otago Production Council, asked whether the new Army manpower scheme would replace that obtaining last year, where applications for men went through the Production Council and the district manpower officer. Under the new scheme, of course, farmers would apply direct to the camps that were to be established. He also pointed out that, apart from the harvest, labour would be required for the cultivation and planting of the 1943-44 cereal crops. The Minister replied that both systems would operate. Colonel J. G. Jeffery, officer commanding the Otago area, had made a statement to that effect. Mr Barclay also stated that the Army was desirous of co-operating with farmers to the greatest possible extent, and production councils could count on its co-operation within, of course, the limitations of the prevailing war situation. Critical comment regarding delays in the release of men from camps was made by Mr R. B. Meek, organisersecretary of the North Otago Production Council, who urged that steps should be taken to expedite the release of men. Often three weeks or a month went by without any reply from the Army as to whether men had been released or not, he declared, and cited a recent case, where there was no advice as to a man urgently called at the New Year. “We are just kepi waiting and waiting,” he added. The Minister said he was aware that some Army officers put “the telescope to the blind eye,” but, all the same, the situation had improved in that respect. In the event of future delays, he invited the Production Council to telegraph him and he would take the matter up in Wellington. <Applause)