RELIEF LABOUR ON FARMS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 244, 15 October 1932, Page 6

RELIEF LABOUR ON FARMS

IS MONEY BEING WASTER? COUNTY COUNCIL DISCUSSION) When a farmer utilises relief labouf should it be insisted upon that the money involved be spent to the best advantage? This question cropped up at a meeting of the Wanganui County Council yesterday, Cr. D. AlcGregor asking whether it would be possible to ascertain the cost of a man’s labour in, say, cutting gorse for burning. Money spent on simply cutting gorse for burning was wasted, he said, unless the area, was sown, or fenced in and heavily stocked. The engineer (Air. R. K. Dawson) said that the farmers who were employing this labour thought they were doing the right thing in finding work for those who needed it. Ur. AlcGregor: Surely the men could i»e employed on something less wasteful. The chairman (Cr. D. Alackintosh) agreed that cutting gorse and burning it was a deliberate waste of money. The gorse should be grubbed or the area fenced in and heavily stocked. Air. J. J. Lissette: The whole thing is very lax. Some farmers are supposed to be doing development work, but they are not. The cleik (Air. G. Darbyshire) said that a farmer who employed men had to find tools and insurance. He would hardly be likely to do that if he though the labour a waste of money. The engineer: He considers he is doing the right thing. The question is, should I go along and tell him he is not doing right? Cr. Kennedy wanted to know what 'would happen if the engineer hnd one idea and the farmer another. “The farmer might ask the engineer what the dickens he knows about farming and tell him he ought to be attending to lhe roads,” Cr. Kennedy added. Air. Dawson reminded the council of the success met with in coping with gorse in a county paddock on the Aberfeldie Hill. Thp gorse had been cut and burned and heavily stocking had kept it down. The scheme had been quite successful. Cr. AlcGregor agreed that grubbing gorse was quite a different thing cutting it. Grubbing was a useful work; the other a waste of money. Some effort is to be made to ascertain what cost is involved in employing labour to cut instead of arub the offending plant.