THE HIRED HAND.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3150, 30 March 1909, Page 4

THE HIRED HAND.

There must be some reason (says the "Lyttelton .Times") why able-bodied men will not go out into the country for work, and the farmera may find that reason with very little searching. What married man, accustom 3d to earn 50s a week in the city, will take a job, causal or permanent, at 22s 6d a week and "found" under the conditions that rule on the average farm ? The wages are inadequate to commence with; and then the conditions of life for farm labourers are sometimes painfully squalid. There are many good employers 'n the country, farmers who house their hands well, feed them well, and give them opportunities for recreation. But there are too many who expect their hands to work from dawn to dark, to sleep in a dirty barn, and to put up with the roughest of food. If the conditions of labour in the country were made approximately equal to those ruling in the cities, the farmers would find plenty of capable men seeking employment. The average farmer does a hard day's work himself, and argues that what is good enough for him in the way of living and recreation should be good enough for the hired labourer.