MANY SUGGESTIONS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 37, 13 February 1941, Page 4

MANY SUGGESTIONS

FARMERS AND LABOUR GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY A number of suggestions had been made for overcoming the shortage of labour on farms, said Mr. S. G. Smith, recently-appointed liaison officer of the National Service Department (Employment Division) at a meeting of farmers in Wanganui yesterday. He added that the proposals he was about to outline were not his own views, but were merely suggestions made in different parts of th* country. In one district, said Mr. Smith, farmers were emphatic that every high school boy should be conscripted and placed on farm work or in other essential occupations. The question of completing their education could be considered after the war. Another suggestion was that men should be conscripted for essential industries, in the same way as others were conscripted for military service. A suggestion had also been made that a survey should be undertaken of all men and women in cities and towns. It had been stated that thousands of people now living in towns had previously been trained to farm work, and that they should be sent back to rural areas.

It had also been suggested that in dairying districts the Government should stop building dwellings in the towns and erect them in the rural areas instead, and thus make accommodation available for married men on farm work. In some secondary industries the. Government had made an attempt to take men into employment as trainees, and the State had granted subsidies to the employers, said Mr. Smith. Farmers should remember, he added, that if they were prepared to take on semi-trained or inexperienced men the Government would grant a subsidy toward their .wages of 30s a week for the first six months and 15s a week for the next six months.