FARM LABOUR.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 17074, 30 August 1917, Page 7

FARM LABOUR.

SUMMONING OF C 2 MEN

THE RIGHT OF APPEAL,

Mr H. J. H.'Okey (Taranaki) asked in the House of Representatives on Tuesday if the Minister for Defence would arrange, in connection Avith. the summoning to camp of C 2 men, that the farms should not be entirely stripped of labour. It would be a very serious matter for' farmers to be taken into preparatory camps during the summer months, when labour was most urgently required. The Minister for Defence (Sir Jas. Allen) said that e^ery C 2 man who was considered by the Special Medical Board to be tit for. preparatory training would have the right of appeal to a Military Service Board. Men whose services were essential on the farms would have the right of appeal, and would be expected to appeal. The agricultural and pastoral industries had been classed as most essential.

A question on th c same point was asked by Mr "W. Nosworthy- (Ashburton). He said that with the ca-lling up of the C 2 men it was becoming impossible to arrange to carry on farm work.

Sir James said that the Efficiency Board's" classification of the farming industry as "most essential" had been accepted by the Government; The Military Service Boards had been asked to observe this classification in dealing with appeals that came before them. If a farmer or farm worker could be replaced by a man who was not eligible for service, he would be taken into the Forces; but he had no doubt that the Boards would follow the classification in a reasonable way.