TROOPS ON FARMS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 273, 18 November 1943, Page 4

TROOPS ON FARMS

BONUSES TO BE PAID MOBILISATIOIV DETAILS (P.A.) Auckland. Nov. 17. Special bonuses a<c to be paid to all soldiers who are employed to help farmers under the Government’s recently announced scheme. At the end of their period of mobilisation they will receive, by warrant, a payment of 6d an hour for each hour up to eight which they work, and one of 2s 6d an hour for all work in excess of eight hours a day or between 5 p.m. and * a.m. These bonuses will be in addition to their military pay. It has yet to be announced what this will be, and what A arrangement is to be made for the ] payment of the usual allowances. Because of the shortness of the mobilisation period, special difficulty may well be caused if the customary macninery is employed for ascertaining and paying these allowances, and it may be that some other means of payment will be adopted.

The bonus system will obviously require a careful check on the time worked by the soldiers. Therefore, time sheets will be used *d certified, to by the farmer and the indiivdual soldier's unit. A start has already been made in the Northern Military District witn the despatch of men to areas where Primary Production Councils have asked for them. The men affected so far are all in the permanently mobilised category and will be returned to their usual camps immediately the first draft of non-mobilised Territorials are sent to camp. The permanently mobilised men will re* ceive their usual Army pay, but ara also eligible for lhe special bonuses. The first draft of non-mobilised men will assemble on November 24 and will begin their farm work tha following day. They will be demobilised before Christmas and the tentative date fixed for the second draft! is December 28.

Areas to which the men are being / sent have been determined in closed consultation with the Agricultural ' Department and the various local Primary Production Councils, which' will estimate the number of men needed in the different localities. The men will be accommodated in military camps and will be subject to Armv organisation and discipline. They wiii be transported daily to farms. Those soldiers who have been taken from lhe permanently mobilised units have been sent to such areas as Hamilton. Te Aroha. Morrinsville. Ta Awamutu and Rotorua. Those mobilised on November 24 will take in a wider field, and in addition to being; sent to such areas as these they will go to Waihi, Paeroa, Matamata. ambridge, Tirau. Otorohanga and similar farming centres. In the De-cember-Januarv period the Bay ot Plenty area wil be included. North Auckland areas are also receiving attention.