FARM LABOUR WANTED.

Waipa Post, Volume IV, Issue 181, 21 January 1913, Page 4

FARM LABOUR WANTED.

GOVERNMENT AND FARMERS’

UNION. A few days ago it was announced in this column that the Government had approached the New Zealand Farmers’ Union in regard to the matter of the farm labour requirements of the Dominion. The following is the full text of the letter sent out to branches of the Farmers’ Union by the Dominion secretary, Mr E. C. Jack : “The New Zealand Government has at present under consideration the question of immigration in regard to farm labourers and domestics, and the Minister (the Hon. W. H. D. Bell) has asked to be supplied with some definite particulars of the requirements of the Dominion both in respect to the class of labour and numbers, and I have been instructed by the Dominion president (Mr J. G. Wilson) to take early steps to draw up a list of the farmers in your locality who require labour now or within the next two or three months. You might consult with your chairman as to the best and quickest way of getting this information,

so that you may be able to advise me 1. y January 20, or as soon as possible. We have pointed out to the Minister the difficulty of collecling this information hurriedly, but we are anxious to impress upon the Government the need for a systematic policy, and we are dependent upon the branches for the necessary proof of the great demand for labour that we believe to exist all over the Dominion. Will you, therefore, kindly furnish me with the list required, and when sending it on I would be glad if you will state what you believe to be a fair estimate of the requirements in your locality. When the above letter was considered by the Southland Farmers’ Union there was a long discussion, and it was resolved:— “That the attention of the Prime Minister be directed to the present lack of labour in the country districts, which tends to prevent farmers from having their actual necessary work carried out, and also proper cultivation of the land, which causes consequent loss in production, and, therefore, severe loss to the Dominion. That the Government be requested to relieve the present unsatisfactory position by giving encouragement to the best class of farm labourers in the Old Country to emigrate. That, in the opinion of this executive, there are openings in Southland alone for from 500 to 1000 men of the proper class.”