The Star. TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 1894. The State Farm.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4927, 17 April 1894, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 1894. The State Farm.

Onb of the best auggeetions made for dealing with our chronic unemployed difficulty is that, one or more State farms should lie established in Canterbury. It is admitted by most of us now that euch farms will not only relieve the present distress, bat, by " attaching the people to the land," will provide a safeguard against the repetition of the trouble. It may safely be assumed that by no one is this more clearly recognised than by the present Government, especially by those members of the Cabinet who have to deal more directly with the question, the Ministers for Lands and Labour. Hence it is to be expected that these gentlemen will do their utmost to found one or more of these most desirable institutions in this district. It mast be remembered, however, that the chief difficulty in the way is a formidable one-— it is the difficulty of procuring land at anything like a price which it would be justifiable for the colony to pay. Still, it 19 clearly tho duty of the Government to strain every nerve to over- • come this difficulty, and to found a State j farm in Cauterbury if there be any possibility oi doing so. The similar farm at Lsvin, in the North Island, was not established without considerable trouble, but it already thowa that the care and pains taken in connection with it are likely to be well recompensed. Some particulars j thereof were given by Mr Mackay, chief i clerk of the Department of Labour, to ! a representative of the Dunedin Star, ] and, under present circumstances these j should prove interesting to our readers. The farm at Levin, he said, named after the late Mr Levin, of Wellington — was not started without difficulties. There was great opposition shown to it by the neighbouring Battlers and also by town people, and it n eat so far that a petition to the Government was prepared and presented by Mr Wilson, member for the district, against the formation of the farm. But since it has been in operation, and the people aeo the mode of work aud the class of men placed on it, and, as they recogniso the fact that everyone who goes upon it, whether married or single, helps to iucress9 the amount of money spent in the district, they are beginning to admit that the farm, instead of being "a dumpingground for paupers," as it was called at first, will be the means of putting more life into the locality, and making tho district more prosperous. The Natives' claims gave some trouble afe first, but an inquiry by Mr Kennedy Macdonald, on behalf of the Govercinent, proved tbat the Maoris had beea fairly treated, and there has been no difficulty on tnat score since. Men up in years, still able to do a fair day's work, but whom no contractor will employ, are given the firat chance of settling on the farm. "We take these men," proceeds Mr Mackay, " and we say • Here is a place for yourself, your wife, and your family. We shall give you plenty to do, day work or contract work, under the rate of wages current outside.' For instance, where the ruling wage is 7a or 8s a day for labouring work wo give the men 5s a day. There iB a difference between the rates, of course, because the men on the farm have the advantages of no rent to pay, an unlimited stock of firewood, and a piece of ground they can cultivate to grow their vegetables on. Another class of men we take is composed of those who, by a surplus in their own particular callings— such aa clerks, drapers, or anyone who is not used to heavy, manual labour — are thrown out of employment. As they cannot get work in their own lines they are forced to go to labour work. A contractor will not have them, of course, and we advise these men to go on the farm and take contracts at the rates we are giving the other men. In course of time they will, provided they are physically able to perform the work, be competent to leave us and go out into the open market and compete for work themselves. When we consider that they have been sufficiently long on the farm they go outside and seek for work, and men of the same class are taken on to fill their places and to go through a similar course of training. Ie must not be supposed that we fix the rate of wages that they are going to earn. When they begin they may earn low wages, but if they persevere they will earn full rates after a time. When we get the bush down aud the farm in proper working order wo shall go in for all sorts of farming work. We have an idea, too, that we shall be large producers of por,k. From inquiries we have made ia that line, we learn that there is

an unlimited market for the article, and in the first year or two of the farm it would be as profitable a thing as we could produce. It gives a deal of employment in other ways, such aB growing stuffs on which to fefed the pigs— mangels and other root crops — and to the elderly men on the farm such employment as that and attending to the pigs and feeding them would be eminently suitable. We shall also produce apples in quantity, as we think that apples and . other fruits can be grown profitably in the colony, and exported to England." : Very satiafaotory all this, and it is to be : I hoped, therefore, that, ere long, we shall ', see the same kind of thing in operation nearer home than Levin. i — — — ■ ™— —